The Son of Neptune my version
by percyfandom
Summary: This is basically my version of the Son of Neptune, continued from the first chapter that Rick Riordan posted online. R&R! I do not own PJO or HEO.
1. Chapter 1

Annabeth turned her knife around in her polishing cloth, deep in thought. It was her turn to watch, as Leo had just returned to his sleeping bag. It wasn't really her actual _turn, _but with Leo constantly tapping his foot, whistling, throwing rocks as far as he could, and doing several other things that generated loud noise, someone had to volunteer to let the others get some sleep.

Annabeth plunged her knife back into the deep, wet soil, one more time, cleansing it of any leftover monster slime from her stabbing of the Amphisbaena. She had sliced off its head on its tail, giving them a huge advantage be causing it to only see in front, and they killed it completely five minutes later. The fact that the Amphisbaena had come back from Tartarus was a bad sign, a _very _bad sign. Being one of the most ancient monsters in Greek mythology, a hero would have felt a surge of victory when killing it, knowing that it would not return for another several hundred years.

An Amphisbaena was basically an ugly, half lizard, half snake, with a head where a dragons' would be, and another attached to the tip of its tail. Annabeth knew this, of course. The last recorded hero to kill had been King Arthur, while searching for the Holy Grail. Before that, Sinbad. Before that, Cato's army had killed in the Libyan Desert during their march. In all of history, it had probably only been killed three or four times, not counting today, of course. It was said to be the spawn of Medusa, emerging from her head when it was cut off by—. _No. _Annabeth thought, stopping her own thoughts in their tracks. _No. I will not do this to myself_. She shook her head clear, and just to relieve the stress, she stabbed her knife deeply into the Earth again, twisting it into the ground as far as it would go, and pulled it out agiain to find that it had left a hole perfect for planting a flower pot. Grover would be pleased with her.

"Take that, Gaea." She muttered, smirking, but it quickly disappeared. Sliding her knife between the cloth again, she continued to ask herself the same question she had been asking for two months. _Why is it always full circle? Why does it _always_ circle back to _him_? _Uh. She continued rubbing her knife clean, aware that the faint glow the celestial bronze gave off was the only thing that lit the black night. It irked her so much. She refused to forget about him, and was determined to find him, but on the other hand, it was _so _hard to even think about him. To even hear or say his name.

Annoyed now, she dropped the cloth and stood up, and began to do what she always did when she was agitated; she paced, one hand on her knife poised behind her back, the other spinning and twirling the beads on her necklace round and round. Where was he? Even though it was stupid, she kept thinking it. It was a stupid question altogether, because she basically knew where he was: somewhere in Northern California, stripped of the knowledge of his entire life, learning things that he already knew. Annabeth's smirk returned. She could imagine him fumblimg with an arrow, the way he always did, under the pressure of some other Roman half-blood, yelling at him to up his game. They would all think he was worthless, stupid. Then he would come to the sword arena, and then they would see. They would all see. See him, great and mighty, slaying all of them, one by one, with a sword made of metal that they did not recognize. The smirk did not leave her face.

After that, they would study him, no doubt, try to find what was different about him. Why he would never die. She froze. She remembered that stirring inside her chest, a year ago, on the breaking Washington Bridge. Ethan Nakamura, somehow aiming his knife at the one perfect spot. She remembered her jumping, the poisoned metal contacting her flesh. And then the never-ending pain in her shoulder. So much pain. Then she remembered when he visited her on the balcony of the Plaza, his pushing past all of the other kids, his face twisted into so much worry it made her want to cry. And then her told her, making her the only one to know that precious piece of knowledge. Trusting her with his life.

She couldn't think about this anymore. All the memories that he couldn't enter, or even think about. Because they weren't there any longer. She hated doing it, but, slowly, she shook Piper awake, informing her that it was her turn to stand guard. Piper knew this was a lie. In some ways, like Grover, she could read the emotions of others, and either way, Annabeth's were pretty visable: she was heartbroken

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Annabeth crawled into her sleeping bag, facing away from Piper. This was wrong. She never cried. The last time she cried was when she was watching Luke Castlellen die before her very eyes. But she could feel the tears coming, already running down her cheeks. She choked out one word:

"No."


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as Percy hit flat ground, he jumped up, and ran for his life. Who knew how fast those snake women could run? Hopefully not as fast as they could come back from the dead. He scanned the perimeter of the large hill he had just sledded down. His inner radar couldn't be more clearer: _you are in the right place_. Well that was all fine and good, but where exactly did he _enter _the right place? Normally, Percy was good at thinking on his feet, but with all the things that had happened in the last hour, he needed time to think. Hiding behind a thick redwood tree, he sat down and tried to clear his head. There was something that snake lady #1 had said that was important. _"You won't live long enough to meet her, but your friends below will soon face her wrath." _She had been talking about her patron, a goddess named Gaea, but he didn't really care about that at the moment. _Your friends below_. Underground. Wherever he was supposed to be going, whether or not he was already there, it was underground.

Still panting, making sure that the gorgon ladies weren't around, he glanced around the tree to look at the hill he had just decended from. It was just a plain old hill, green, with a few trees. There had to be some sort of secret entrance somewhere, because who ever he was supposed to meet was smart enough not to carve a little door onto the side of a hill for the whole world to see. So maybe the entrance wasn't on the actual hill maybe it was somewhere on the ground or in a tree. A trigger? A snare? A lever? Suddenly, in his mind Percy heard a familiar voice hiss at him: "Percy! We're in a hurry!" He didn't move.

This wasn't a new warning. He had heard this exact sentence before, but he was in a different situation. This was a memory, and it was so painful not knowing who said it, because the voice was so painfully familiar. Suddenly he felt like pulling his hair out of his skull. _Who _was _that? _He shook his head. He would find out later. The voice was right, though. He was in a hurry. He got up and took a quick look around. He was surrounded by giant redwood trees, which would be perfect for a sneek attack. _Sneak attack? Where did_ that _come from?_ Again, he shook his head. More time to find out later. Now, where was he going to find a trigger for a secret entrance?

Suddenly he heard the shrill, annoying voice of Stheno call out,

"I can't belive he took _all _of my free samples!"

"Shut up!" Euroyle replied.

Frozen in shock, Percy back into the caving of a semi-hollow redwood, just in time to see Stheno's face brighten and say,"Oh, _there _you are!" he felt his body being sucked downwards, into a tunnel. Clinging onto his backpack for dear life, he waited half a second before he fell onto the ground into a heap. He cleared his head, and looked up. Staring down at him were five very different, very mean looking people.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The person standing directly infront of him was obviously the leader. She was dressed completely in glowing gold armor, from neck to toe, she had taken off her helmet so that she could glare at Percy, her eyes narrowed into little slits. She was pretty imtimidating, for a girl, with a matching gold bow over her shoulder, along with a sheath of arrows. A foot-long knife was sheathed by her side. Her hair was pulled into a very long brown braid down her back. She reminded him of someone else, Percy thought, with her determined stare and agitated stance, but Percy didn't know who.

The people flanking her wore similar types of armor made of different metals, with different weapons. The girl to her left had pale blond hair that was almost white, with nothing but a long, thin, silver raiper by her side as a weapon. The boy behind her was short, but totally muscular, and was armed with every weapon you can think of, all matching his blood red armor. The kid to his right was totally ripped, and was at least six feet with armor colored with tons of buttons and triggers. The only person dressed simply was the girl on the right of the leader, who wore simply bronze armor with a little knife in her sheath, with green eyes and chesnut hair. She looked like she hated him a little bit less than the others, which still wasn't very reassuring.

"Uh, hi." No one said anything. Realizing how stupid he must look, Percy got up and slung his backpack over his shoulder. The ear of the Panda pillow pet that stuck out of the pouch probably didn't look that impressive.

"Er, hi." He repeated. "I'm Percy. Percy Jackson." For a few more moments, the group lingered there, just staring at him like he was a confusing inconvienience, and needed to be sent back to wherever he came from.

The girl with the pale blond hair and silver armor broke the silence. Sort of. She leaned over towards the girl in gold with the long braid and whispered something in her ear. The girl in gold barely acknowledged her, she just kept staring at me. When the girl in silver was finished, she did not move, but loudly and clearly proclaimed,

"No."

The girl in silver looked annoyed.

"But if we don't—"

"Gwen." The girl in gold silenced her. "Before we do anything rash, we should at least find out a little bit about him and the current situation that he is in. The blonde, Gwen, pouted, and the short buff guy said,

"Reyna, he could by a spy of some sort. We don't want to take any chances." The girl in gold, whose name was apparently Reyna, turned to look at him, and I could see that engraved onto the back of her armor, were the letters SPQR. Weird.

"Dakota, be reasonable. Who could he possibly be a spy to? The Titans are defeated, and there's no way that they can return now that their seat of power has been destroyed. Kronos is dead because of our actions against his throne, which is now in ashes. We saw it. Now let me think." Reyna approached Percy carefully, as though he might go ninja mode on her and karate chop her. Slowly, she took a strand of my his and rubbed it in between her fingers. She studied the holes in his shirt and jeans. Out of the blue, she asks,

"Why are you holding a pen?" Percy regarded the ¢30 ballpoint pen in his hand, which he was clasping so hard his fingers were turning purple.

"This?" Percy asked.

"Yeah." Percy shifted on his feet uncomfortably.

"Uh, I'd rather you didn't."

"Why?" Without thinking, Percy impulivly uncapped his pen, Anaklusmos, and the five in front of him stared in a mixture of horror and awe.

"Dude!" the huge guy in black armor to the left of Bobby exclaimed. "How did you make that?"

"It was a gift." Percy explained. "From my father."

"Who is your father?" Reyna asked suspiciously.

"Posi—I mean Neptune. My dad is Neptune."

"Prove it." Percy was confused. Prove it? How was he supposed to prove something like that? Take out a birth certificate? He didn't even know who his mother was. But then he got an idea. Reaching into his backpack, the pulled out a tiny bottle of water. Slowly, he unscrewed the cap to the bottle and poured the water onto the ground, making sure that before it made contact with the Earth, he suspended it from the ground, feeling a strange tugging sensation in his gut, which he somehow knew he had felt before. Without hesitation, he carefully led every last drop of suspended water back into the bottle, then, lightly, he closed the lid.

"My dad is Neptune." He repeated firmly to the now awestruck crowd in front of him. He smirked a little, too, because he could tell that no one had pulled something like that in a while.

Reyna was the first to break from the veil of shock that had clouded the minds of her friends.  
>"And, um, L-lupa has verified this.<p>

"You mean the giant she-wolf? Yes, yes she has."

"Bub-bu-bu wata" Dakota muttered, astonished, but Reyna snapped her fingers under his nose, bringing him back to attention.

"C'mon, Kota', show's over." A now annoyed Gwen simply decided to slap him across the face.

"Ow!"

"Dakota! It's really not that amazing! He's a son of Neptune, so he can do that stuff! Really, it's not that amazing compared to what Jason—" Gwen stopped in her tracks, and slowly calmed down, because at the word "Jason", Reyna's armored body had gone stiff as a statue. "As, um, other tricks we've seen in the past." She turned her attention towards Reyna. "Rey, I—"

"Gwendolyn?"

"Yes?"

"Will you please show our new recruit to his new cabin?"

"Well—"

"_Will you?"_

"Um . . . yes." Gwen turned towards Percy, and dragged him by the arm to another, roomier tunnel-elevator thing, taking him to wherever he was supposed to go. But before they even got there, Percy had the biggest feeling that he didn't belong here, not at all.


	4. Chapter 4

As the doors of the tunnel opened Percy was shocked by what he saw. Instead of more underground tunneling, there was a large, spacious valley, filled with some of the strangest assortment of things that Percy had ever seen. To his right there was a shooting range, consisting of both loaded guns and bows and arrows, a stable filled with the gods-know-what, and a small, deep lake. To his left, there was an arena, and what looked to be an outdoor theatre. In the center of the valley, there was a large group of odd-looking tents, each a different color, marked with large number on the front.

Gwen was silent as she stepped out of the tunnel, and had to pull Percy out to make him stop daydreaming. She continued walking quietly, and Percy followed, not sure what he was supposed to be doing. Finally, he asked, awkwardly,

"Er, Gwen? Where are we going?" It was a simply question, one that really could have been asked in any similar situation, but Gwen whipped her head around, giving him a mouthful of blonde.

"There are three things that you need to understand, newbie." She said coldly, staring at him with icy eyes. "The first, you don't ask questions. That makes you look stupid, not that you need any help with that. You watch, and you learn, and you use your senses. Got it?" Percy nodded. "Two, you aren't as amazing as you think you are."

"Gee, thanks."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "You don't get what I mean. What I mean is that here, you don't earn status according to what people think of you the second you get here. It doesn't work like that. You train. You work hard. And once you've proven that you are a skilled warrior, and a good leader, then, people will judge you by your personality."

"Oky doky, so no asking questions, and no self-esteem allowed. Gotcha. What's the third thing?"

"Don't call me Gwen. To you I am Gwendolyn. That's it."

"Why?"  
>"Because that's what my friends call me."<p>

"Oh."

The continued walking until the reached the set of tents. They were some of the largest tents that Percy had ever seen, each the size of the average baseball diamond. There exactly thirteen, but none was alike. One of them was built one a silver platform, with silky silver flaps that were nailed to the edge of the platform, so the only opening was the doorway. Another was on a platform made completely out of sandbags, with flaps made out of burlap that had been painted red, and rolled over with barbed wire. Gwendolyn led Percy to a tent built on a driftwood platform, with blue-green fabric that looked thin and delicate enough to tear against a touch.

"The Neptune Cabin." Gwendolyn said flatly, and she tossed him a purple bundle. "Those are your clothes. Dinner is at six." With that, she turned on her heel, and left, not looking back at him once.

Percy looked around. For a tent, it seemed pretty secure. There were at least a dozen full box spring twin beds, all donned with temparpetic mattresses. All of them were empty. The side tables and lamps next to each bed were all clear. He was obviously the only one who was and possibly ever, lived here. He picked a bed at random and threw his backpack and new purple bundle on the bedside table. He looked at his watch. One pm. He was exhausted. What was a little nap gonna do to him?


	5. Chapter 5

Annabeth Chase ran for her life. Once again, that stupid Amphisbaena was somehow alive again. It was impossible! She had only killed it yesterday! She had been studying monsters for almost her entire life, and she knew that monsters did _not _return from Tartarus in less then a day. This wasn't natural. There was something wrong with it. She sprinted through the woods, behind Leo and Piper with Jason behind her.

"Scatter!" he yelled, and they all hit the ground. Annabeth hid behind a log, breathing yard. She could hear Jason's gladious scraping against the monster's scales, and she could hear it getting closer. She dared to peak over the top of the log. For the first time, both of the monster's heads were focused on one thing: Jason. This was both good and bad, good because she could possibly kill it using stealth, bad because Jason might get barbequed. Slowly, she unzipped her backpack and pulled out one of her favorite weapons: her Yankees cap of invisibility. Oh, the memories that this cap brought back. Her first capture the flag where Percy had been claimed, and her plan that revolved around the cap won her team the flag. Fighting Promethemos the Cyclops in the Sea of Monsters. Fighting the manticore . . . and falling off a cliff. At Mount St. Helens, where . . . _It's always full circle, Annabeth. Break the circle, for now. Focus. _

Taking a deep breath, she put on the cap, and slid out from behind the log. The monster was still focused on Jason. Man, did it have a long tail-head. If she could kill that the way she did before it would give her a huge advantage, but no. It was too risky. If she failed to cut it off, then the monster would sense her presence. And then she would be getting into the E-Z death line faster then you could say Greece. Fun. Instead, she would have to wait for it to turn around. Or make the unwise choice of joining Jason in his position. Suddenly, she had an idea. She got down on her hands and knees, and started crawling under the monster's feet. If she could just find the spot . . . there! Waiting for the perfect moment . . . for the beast to take just a little step further towards Jason and . . . she drove her knife right into the spot where the monster's heart would be, and slid out. She didn't want to be covered in monster dust. She smugly watched an astonished Jason as the monster crumbled to powder all by itself. Removing her cap, Annabeth at her handiwork.

"Good work." Annabeth told Jason.

"Er, thanks, but I think you were the one who killed it." Annabeth let something similar to a laugh escape from her throat, but then corrected it with a frown.

"We better keep moving before this thing magically comes back to life again."

Jason nodded. Annabeth stared down at the dust, wondering what it would feel like to die the way the Amphisbaena did. She wasn't sure if she wanted to find out.


	6. Chapter 6

As soon as Percy fell asleep, his dream began almost instantly. He was standing before a vast forest, with pine trees spread out in several different places. It was quiet, but Percy had a feeling that he should expect the unexpected. It paid off, because just then, someone dashed out from behind a pair of pine trees, running faster than a cheetah. She dove behind a large trunk, and then stopped. Percy couldn't see her, so he crept around a few trees to see who it was, and when he did, he was so shocked he almost cried out.

He reconized her. She was extremely pretty, with messy curly blonde hair, a good tan, and at least five feet and seven inches on her. Her gray eyes looked like silver coins in the dark. The girl was breathing hard, like she'd just finished a marathon, which seemed pretty unlikely in the middle of the woods. She looked behind her, seeing if she had been followed. No one.

Then she did another thing Percy didn't expect. Her face twisted into an expression filled with several different things: pain, hurt, worry, loss, and overall sadness. She slid down the trunk and put her head in her hands. Her shoulders began to shake.

Percy tried to call out, to ask what was wrong, but he realized that his voice wasn't working. He waited a while for silence, but she didn't stop for a while before she wiped her eyes on her arm and stared at the sky.

"Send him a sign." She whispered in agony. "Or send me a sign. Help me find him. Please." And then she continued to cry.

For some reason, Percy felt extremely sensitive for this stranger, this girl he didn't even know. But when he watched her cry, he wanted so badly to comfort her in every way he knew how. But he couldn't. This was just a dream. Suddenly, someone, another girl, called out,

"Annabeth?" Annabeth suddenly straightened up and wiped her eyes, but she was still crying. Annabeth. That name was _so _familiar. Annabeth. It was so relieving to finally know something. Because somehow, Percy was absolutely sure that this girl, Annabeth, was important to him, and had something to do with his past. She was the connection to his past, and he knew that he needed to find her. Somehow.

Still sniffling, Annabeth stood up. "Yeah?" A girl with brown hair stepped out from in between two trees. When she saw Annabeth's puffy red eyes and pink cheeks, her expression molded into one of sympathy. Apparently the state of Annabeth's heartbreak for some guy who was lost was no mystery to her brunette friend.

"Annabeth, are you ok?" The brunette asked softly. Just then, Percy got angry at the brunette girl. Was she crazy? Of course Annabeth wasn't "Ok"! She was standing there, with red eyes and a broken heart, and here this dumb random girl was asking her if she was "Ok"? Incredible. Now, if _Percy _had been in that situation, then he would have said just the right thing. If he had been there—_Woah there, _the sane part of his mind said. _You barely know this girl. Don't get all defensive. _

"No, Piper. No I'm not." Annabeth sank back down onto the ground and began to slowly sob, while the brunette girl, Piper, slowly patted her on the back. "It's not fair!" Annabeth cried between a sob. "Everything—was—so—perfect—and then—this who—le thing—just—happened!"

"It's alright." Piper mumbled. She was deep in thought.

"I just don't understand!" Annabeth sprang to her feet and threw up her arms, pacing back and forth. "We could have gotten at least the slightest bit of a warning! But, NO! Just because it's Hera, I wake up one morning after one of the most perfect nights of my life, and BAM! He's just . . . g—g—gone!" Annabeth cried again, into Piper's shoulder.

"It's Ok." Piper said reassuringly. "We _will _find him. I swear. We won't give up. This situation will be hard for you now, I swear on my _life _that we _will _find Percy Jackson." At the last word, Percy woke up, drenched in cold sweat, terrified by what he had just seen.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thank you so, so, much for all your amazing feedback! A special shoutout to OMG-Bannana (awesome username, by the way) for pointing out a huge mistake that I hadn't noticed, but they did! Thank you so much! Was my replacement for chapter six better then my Chapter 4 rewrite? Also, a thanks to janeyway for reviewing twice, and also being my first reviewer. You rock for that! Anyway, Chapter 7 will be in Gwendolyn's POV, maybe a little short, but . . . I'm hoping to write in as many people's POVs as possible. Anyway, one last thing: I've decided that from now on, at the beginning of each chapter I will write an author's note that includes a PJO poll, so like an opinionated question? I guess? I don't know what it's called. Answer the question via review, and in the next update, I will write what opinion was the most popular. This chapter's question: **

*******At the end of The Last Olympian, were you annoyed that Percy wasn't the one who killed Kronos directly, but that Luke stabbed himself, making Luke seem like the real hero in the end, i.e., the child of the prophecy?*******

**Please send your answers! Anyway, onto Chapte 7, in Gwendolyn's POV**

Gwendolyn stomped away from the dining hall after dinner, trying to walk as slowly as she could. Her teeth were gnashed together like a sandwich, and she really didn't know where she was going, but she needed time to think. She had spent an extra half hour in the dining hall, even after everyone left, but her mind was full, and she had three hours before bed. Normally, Gwendolyn was never in a fantastic mood, but today, she was _especially _annoyed. The first thing she thought when they found the new demigod was, _Oh, no. Not another one. _All this would do would get Reyna's hopes up, _again. _Every single time they found someone even close to a demigod, it set her off. In January, when the Dominos guy came to deliver their pizza, Reyna had held up a photo of Jason in the guy's face and asked him "Have you seen this boy?" This had been going on for almost three months, and every time someone came by, they turned out to be as normal as any old demigod, if you called that normal.

And then, _this _guy showed up. Annoying, obnoxious, and obviously extremely arrogant. So you could play with a little water, so _what_? But as soon as the water slithered back into the little plastic bottle, Gwen could see it in her best friend's eyes. She had been set off, again. And this time, the kid was nothing more than a stupid, good-for-nothing, idiot who had old algae head for a daddy. Gwendolyn scowled.

Her ranting thoughts were interrupted by no other then Reyna, who had just returned from shooting arrows, obviously. What else would she be doing?

"Hey! Gwen!" Gwendolyn shot her friend a fake smile.

"What's up?"

"Oh, you, know."

"Shooting?"

"Yup!" The two girls laughed.

"So," Reyna said, still smiling. "What do you think of the new kid?"

"Perry?"

"_Percy_." Reyna corrected, rolling her eyes. Of course Gwen got his name wrong on purpose. It was the exact kind of thing that Gwen would do to annoy her.

"Oh . . . er, him. He's—"

"Oh my gods you like him!" Reyna squealed. Gwendolyn rolled her eyes. For a daughter of Apollo, Reyna could sometimes be more like a daughter of Venus.

"No, actually. He annoys me." They walked back into the group of cabins, strolling along near the Jupiter cabin, which was next to the Juno cabin, and then the Neptune one. Reyna frowned.

"Really? Why?"

"Because . . . I . . . don't know why, exactly, but for some reason he just, irks me. And Reyna, I know what you must be thinking, but really, if there was any demigod who could be the answer to our current . . . _situation_, I really don't think that Percy Jackson—" Reyna then turned around to face her, putting both hands on her shoulders, and looked her in the eyes.

"Gwen, I know that you've seen my go through this stage before, but I have a feeling. After that stunt with the water bottle, and he _is _the son of Neptune, I just knew. He _is _the one. He must be." And with that she walked over to the Apollo cabin, and waved Gwendolyn good night. Gwen watched as she walked away, her head swirling with emotions: confusion, pity, sadness, regret. After Jason had disappeared, Reyna had changed, and not for the better. Her life had been completely altered to focus on finding her sort-of boyfriend, a guy who might be seeing someone else this very second, in the gods-know-where. At that moment, Gwendolyn wasn't really thinking about how annoying Percy Jackson was. All she was thinking about was how she didn't want to see her best friend get hurt, not again.


	8. Rick Riordan reveals a new piece of SON

**A brief author's note to PJO fans: Son of Neptune news **

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been updating very much lately. I just finished a new chapter for the story, but didn't decide to update until tomorrow, so I could update this author's note first (you don't need to read it, but I'd appreciate it if you did). So last night, I was looking through YouTube for the Sea of Monsters official trailer, since there'd been some hype that it had been launched, but sadly, no such luck. However, what I did find was _way _more exciting. To anyone who follows Rick Riordan's blog, he posted that he would be in New York on June 25 for something. On YouTube, a guy recorded Rick Riordan talking at this event with his Blackberry, and it turns out he read another excerpt from the Son of Neptune, and talked about stuff that would be in the book! I'm pretty sure someone of fanfiction copied down the recording, but I never checked. Anyway, so what I found out: for one thing, (which I was really excited about), Tyson, one of my favorite characters, will make an appearance in the Son of Neptune, which led me to believe that Percy would go on some type of quest that had to either do with Camp Half-Blood or his old life. Yay! ! I also, unfortunately found out that Percy will somehow lose his Achilles curse. . At first, I was really, really mad about this, because now, (unlike many predictions from fanfiction authors) Percy will not outshine all the Romans and make them jealous, which, at the moment, made it seem to me that he wouldn't be the same Percy. But then It thought about the four other books about Percy Jackson that showed how amazing he was, and then realized, Percy is cooler than all the other demigods we've met. We know he's much cooler than Leo, Piper, and Jason (sorry, but it's kinda true). What I predicted: based on the context, Annabeth won't make an actual appearance in this book, but we will possibly see her on the phone, in a dream, a voice in his head, via iris message, whatever. Anyway, she will be mentioned a lot. So what I just want to tell you all is that even though that this new information has been told, I don't think my story will be any different than it was going to be, but we'll see how it goes. Here is the link to the YouTube video of the recording at the event: **.com/watch?v=pMGAbfqtijUw**

Anyway, another thing, before I post my update tomorrow, I want at least 5 answers to my poll question (so far I've only had one), so that I can tell you guys the results. The question is on Chapter 7, but this is basically it: were you mad that Luke was the one who killed Kronos, and not Percy? i.e. he was the hero of the prophecy? Please answer!

I will update soon,

Hailey


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hola guys, so I guess my last poll thing didn't work out too well, only one person has answered my question, so I guess it really wasn't a gear turner. So, anyway, I came up with more of an interesting one, but if you want to still answer it, then feel free. :). So, I actually got a lot of feedback about the author's note I posted about the new excerpt. I just want to make one thing clear: I DID NOT MAKE THAT UP. THAT IS A REAL VIDEO AND REAL A REAL EXCERPT FROM RICK RIORDAN'S ORIGINAL NOVEL THE SON OF NEPTUNE. I don't make stuff like that up and write a page-long author's note about it. I would suggest you click on the link. Also, I was asked about a little Percabeth drama or drama revolving around Percy's love life. That will come, but be warned: I'm not the kind of person who babbles about how much Percy and Annabeth love each other or what their wedding day will be like or what their kids look like. To all who await such drama: be patient. It will come, but I will not revolve the story completely around it. It is an Adventure/Romance. Anyway so my new poll (you can still answer the old one): *****In which book did you think that Annabeth and Percy started showing their feelings for each other? If it was just hinting or whatever, which one did you think they started acting a little bit more than friends, or if it was heading that way?***** Anyway, this next chapter is in Reyna's POV. Hope you like it, and please, please, read, answer poll, and review!**

The first thing Reyna did when she walked into the Apollo tent was make sure that she was alone. She was, of course, because no one went to bed this early, especially the Apollo kids. Even when Jason was there, overall, they were the ones that trained the most, pushed themselves the hardest, and tried the most to be the best at what they did. Seven o'clock was noon for them.

But Reyna needed time alone. So, the second thing she did was approach the main Universal remote on the table in the middle of the cabin, and activated the "Close Flaps" and "Activate Soundproofing" options by singing a high C and a low D. Usually, when new kids saw her tent, they asked if she was really a daughter of Vulcan, but really, all it was was that the Apollo kids were a little . . . pampered. Their father congradulated them for every achievement they made at camp. A victory in a gladiator fight? A large package wrapped in gold paper on your bed. Birthday? Package on the bed. A good talk with Lupa? On the bed. Mostly the things were music related, though. Like the remote, for example. Besides, if you saw the Vulcan tent, the first thing you would ask is why did all the buttons do.

Reyna changed out of her armor and into a pair of fleece pajamas and a Paramore tee shirt. She took out her long braid, and grabbed her headphones off of her bedside table and put them on. You couldn't exactly call them headphones, they were more like two round gold disks that fit into her ears like they weren't even there. She didn't need an iPod. Sitting on her full-sized bed, she leaned against the pillows and sighed. The headphones would automatically analyze her mood and play whatever song she wanted to hear, even if she didn't know it. And then make up a playlist as her mood changed. If it changed suddenly, then so would the song.

Slowly, the song "Secrets" by One Republic started to play. She let out a breath. The beat and rhythm of the song was perfect for her confused mood, but the lyrics confused her. She had nothing to hide, if that was what her mind was implying. She knew the song by heart, but . . . oh. Of course. Her father would have been ashamed. Of course, to understand the intensity of a song you must understand its lyrics. "Secrets" wasn't really about secrets, not completely, at least. It was about feeling empty and dull about life and desperate to change. Well, in that case, that was exactly how Reyna felt. Ever since Jason's disappearance that's how she had been feeling every day. Not just pain, even though she felt that too, but a dull kind of confusion, like she didn't know what she should do next. With Jason, even before he had disappeared, life seemed like an exciting mystery, not sure if he really felt that way about her, and every time he said anything that made her feel as if that fact was true, she felt as if she had just found a new clue, a new piece of the puzzle. Now, without Jason there to make it an exciting mystery, it just left her confused. It didn't used to be that way with him. They had always been friends, but after the Titan War, when he had hugged her once and held her hand twice the week after they had taken Mount Othyrs, it gave her butterflies whenever he was near her.

Now, all she could think about was where he might be, or what he was doing at the moment. Had he met someone? Was he dead? And then, today, this new kid had arrived. There was something different about him, that was sure. There was a kind of loose freeness about him, like everything he did was completely unplanned. Carefree. None of the campers were like that, even when they had first arrived. For some reason, Reyna admired that, but she didn't know why. It was so unlike Jason. Everything he did was carefully planned out. He carefully thought about everything he said. Put together. Organized.

For some reason, Gwen didn't seem to like Percy very much. Reyna wasn't sure what he had said or done to Gwen to make her feel that way, but obviously, whatever it did, it made Gwen hate him with a passion. Gwen wasn't one who really cared about her social life or relationships. She didn't care about her image, just her friends. Reyna smiled. Gwen was her best friend. There was no one else who understood her better (instantly her headphones changed to the song "I'm Only Me When I'm with You" by Taylor Swift). Reyna knew that Gwen was worried about her, which she respected. And she knew that she had been persistant about finding Jason for the past two months, and failed, but this time, she was absolutely sure. She knew it. And whatever was different about Percy Jackson, Reyna was determined to find out.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Happy Fourth of July! So, I told you that I would update, but instead of only one chapter, I'm doing two, so I guess this is my Fourth of July present to you. I can't tell you all how grateful I am for all your views and great comments. I started this story only 20 days ago and already I've gotten almost 2,000 hits, 10 followers, and 10 people who alerted this story! I think for the Fourth of July I might write a one-shot about Percy and Annabeth's Fourth of July date mentioned in the Demigod Files (look at me, ranting about how I don't like being mushy in my writing and here I'm writing a one-shot about just that) so watch out for that, too! Also, the poll question stays the same, so pretty please answer it: In what book did you think Annabeth and Percy started developing feelings for each other? Happy 4****th**** of July again! This chapter will be in Percy's POV. P.S. sorry, about how long and pretty pointless that last chapter was, I think I was just babbling, so I think that this one will make up for it, along with the one-shot that I hope you all will view? :) Hailey**

Percy couldn't believe that he had survived through dinner without walking into a wall. He was so transfixed, so deep in thought. A never-ending string of thoughts were bee-lining through his mind, all about his mysterious dream. _Someone is looking for me. Someone is worried about me. Someone was crying over me. _He then thought about this morning. _Was it really only this morning? _When he was in the woods, looking for the camp, and that voice had appeared in his head. The familiar intimidation he felt when he met Reyna. This was way too much to take in for one day.

Percy walked into his cabin, surprised to see an assortment of fresh clothes laid out on the bed, along with his beat-up backpack, where he had claimed his bedside table. Weird. He had figured that there were about five people in this entire magic boot camp that actually knew he existed, and that all of them hated him, except for maybe that short buff guy, Dakota, who looked at him like he was Superman when he pulled the thing with the water bottle. They announced that he was the new camper at dinner, but no one really seemed care. Still. Who would give him all this stuff? No one cared about him being there _that _much, except for maybe the blonde girl, Annabeth, but she was in some forest alone with a not-very helpful brunette to keep her company.

Nevertheless, Percy put the clothes in the little trunk by his bed, showered, and climbed into his five-star hotel rated "cot". The pillow was too fluffy, so he grabbed his backpack out of the little trunk to get his pillow pet. When he opened it up, he was shocked to see that someone had sliced the panda stuffed animal into two symmetrical pieces. An envelope was sticking out of stuffing on the right hand side. Percy sat down on the bed, examining it carefully, but right when he was just about to open it, he heard someone say his name.

"—I really don't think Percy Jackson—"

"Gwen," the voice sounded only slightly familiar, but Percy figured the girl who didn't think he could do whatever was Gwendolyn. "I know that you've seen me go through this phase before, but I have a feeling. After that stunt with the water bottle, and he is the son of Neptune, I just knew. He _is _the one. He must be." Percy froze when he heard her say that. Someone had said that to him before, or at least about him. But when? Where? Thinking about it, trying to remember, made his brain hurt. He'd better stop. But still, _when?_

He turned his mind back to the mysterious letter, which he then tore open. It was a simple piece of notebook paper that read:

_We need to talk. Meet me at the shooting range tomorrow at 10. Reyna._

Percy was a little annoyed. He couldn't help thinking, _you chopped up my pillow pet so you can use it to store murder mystery notes? _So much for being "the one". He turned over the paper and groaned.

_P.S. We don't use pillow pets at the Legion. Sorry. _


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Please, please review more! I really don't mean to complain but so far this story has been up for nearly a month and I've had 3,142 hits, 11 favorites, 11 story alerts, 3 profile page views (which could be few more, please don't be afraid to stalk me, I don't really care ;), and a full total of 772 visitors. However, out of that whopping 772, I've only gotten 15 reviews so far (thank you, janeyway, WriterAwesome, snowymoonpaw, OMG-Bannana, princess3170, Zoe Anderson, 14youtube, lilifrog, ChildoftheSeaGod, Jaimison, and percyjacksonharrypotter for your feedback!). This was a little disappointing. So, viewers, I'll make a deal with you. If I can get 50 reviews in the next week, then as soon as I hit 50, I will post 10 new chapters in one week, along with several new polls. 10 chapters 7 days. More then one new thing to read every day. I don't care if you've read one chapter or the whole thing, just please, please, PLEASE review! You want 10 chapters in one week? Review, review, review! This next one is in the point of view of no other then the fabulous Annabeth Chase. **

Arizona. They were only in Arizona. All these weeks, and they'd already only had gotten as far as Arizona. Annabeth glared at the _Welcome to Phoenix! _sign as though it had murdered her child. Great. At this point if they kept traveling on foot, it would take them at least a few more weeks to get to San Francisco. And then what? It was quite possible that he was on some random quest right now, or he had run away from the camp. Or he had gone looking for her.

Anyway, wherever he was, it was extremely important that they would find him, and only him, without being seen. Of course, they couldn't do that if he wasn't there. And then their carefully thought-out plan would be ruined.

The four demigods strolled into the city, probably looking as disgusting and beat-up as ever. Fortunately, they had just enough money for three train tickets, plus the $100 that Leo had "found" in New Mexico. Annabeth took in the sight. Really, for a well-known city, Phoenix didn't look any different then others she'd seen before: A main street, a main city area with buildings and apartments, and a small close-by suburban fringe.

Looking around for something that looked even slightly like a train station, Leo, Piper, Jason and Annabeth finally decided to stop and rest in a small park with a swing set and a small wooden bench to sit on. Piper and Annabeth sat down on the bench, while Jason was sitting in an immobile swing. Leo crashed on the edge of a kiddy slide.

Annabeth stared out into space, deep in thought. The other night, when she had cried in the woods, she had felt something, something she hadn't experienced before. It was the feeling that . . . in a way, someone was watching her, but that they weren't present at the moment. There hadn't been a single person within ten miles of her except for Leo, Piper, and Jason. But she didn't know, she just had a feeling.

"Annabeth?" Jason's voice brought her back to reality. "Annabeth?"

"Um, yeah?"

"I said, should we keep moving?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Let's wait a little bit longer. It's nice to . . . slow down, for a while."

"Well, we can't exactly do that when we're supposed to "retrieve the boy as soon as possible." Leo muttered. Piper shot him a glare that could rival Thalia's.

"Leo." Jason grumbled.

"What?"

"Not exactly the best morale booster."

"Sorry, but, c'mon, I'm serious! We have no idea where this camp is—"

"Not true," Piper interrupted. "We know its somewhere in Northern California, probably near San Francisco." Leo gave her a look that clearly said, _Thanks for the tip_.

"Anyway, as I was saying, we not _exactly sure _where this camp is, we don't know what kind of security they have, so the plan might not even work—"

"Leo!"

"—so, if we're gonna "slow down for a while" we might as well do it while discussing ways to get in Camp Slash-Cut-Kill." Everyone stared at him. Leo was almost never like this. This was the most serious thing that had come out of his mouth since he's screamed at Jason, "KILL IT OR IT"LL KILL YOU, DUDE!" when he had been fighting the Amphisbaena. He must be sick or something.

"What?" he asked.

"Well thought-out speech." Piper muttered. Everyone was silent for a minute or two, taking in what Leo had just said. The most annoying part about his little outburst was the fact that, everyone kind of knew he had a point. They had a plan, but in some ways, they were completely, 100% unprepared. Leo was right. How _did _they know the plan was going to work? Who knew what the punishment would be if someone at the Roman camp caught them speaking past the barriers, kind of kidnapping, kind of . . . rescuing one of their demigods? And, Annabeth gulped at the thought, what would they do to Percy if he defended them because he knew who she was?

"Annabeth." Piper broke the silence. "Maybe it would be best if . . . in this situation, you let Jason borrow your Yankees cap." At the mere mentioning of Annabeth's most prized possessions, her hand flew to the outside pocket of her backpack. Let him _borrow _it? Why would Piper even think about letting Annabeth hand over her cap of invisibility, no big deal? The only person who had ever worn this cap besides her was . . . _just say it_. She thought. _There's no point trying to forget. _Percy. Percy Jackson. Perseus Jackson. Who lived in New York. Who went to camp with her. Who led her on her first quest. The first boy she'd ever kissed. One of the few people on Earth who made her laugh, made her feel special. Who understood her. Who she loved. Her boyfriend. Percy was the only other person who had even worn her Yankees, and she was planning on keeping it that way.

"No." She spat out, suddenly angry. It was hers'. No one was allowed to touch it. Not even her siblings in Cabin Six. Not even Malcolm! Not even Thalia! And yet, _he _was the only person who had ever worn it.

"No? Why?" Jason asked, taken aback by her suddenly harsh attitude.

"Because." Annabeth said coolly.

"Why?"

"Just because!" Everyone fell silent, again, until Leo suggested, "Why don't we keep moving? If we keep walking we'll probably come by a train or bus station. Besides, I'm starving. I wonder if the people in Phoenix actually serve Phoenix?"

Everyone just got up and kept walking towards the nearest street corner, no one amused by Leo's stupid joke. If they were going to get to California as soon as possible, they would have to start working a little harder.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: OK, so I'm really sorry that I haven't updated lately, but I've been busy, Ok? Anyway, thank you all soooo much for reviewing! This story now has 37 reviews and counting, including 10 from one of the coolest viewers ever: SimpleHedley. This guy reviewed my story 11 times! 11! You guys only have 13 reviews to go! Keep it up! (Reyna's POV)**

Reyna was standing impatiently, tying and retying the gold hair tie on the end of her braid. She looked at the clock at the front of the shooting range again. 10:05. He was late. In her 9 years at the Legion, Reyna had learns tons of things: how to fight, how to shoot an arrow, which monsters were the most deadliest. But one of the most important things she had learned was to be dicipilned, and that included being on time.

Reyna thought back to yesterday, when she had kind of broken into his cabin, invaded his personal privacy by going through his things, chopped his comfort object in half, and written a rather rude, mysterious, and slightly humorous letter which she stuffed in between its two halves. She wondered if he had found that funny. Jason would have. It would have been a totally flirty move if he was in that situation, because Jason wouldn't have really cared about the pillow pet, but to entertain her, he would've acted hurt and annoyed like a child, sad because she had destroyed his toy. But then he would stop and they'd laugh about it. And then he'd make some sarcastically funny comment about how she was a stuffed animal serial killer or something. But would Percy?  
>"Reyna?" she whirled around. Standing in front of her was no other than Percy himself. "You're er, note said 10, right?" Reyna smiled playfully. Of course he would refer to her note sarcastically. Guys did that to be funny, right?<p>

"You're late." She told him. Percy looked confused, like he was sure there was some mistake, but of course, again, he was obviously doing that to be funny.

"Um, sorry. What's up?"

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

"Percy, you're new here, and I get that! But someone needs to teach you how things are done here. Give you a little heads up on what to expect."

"Um, I think Gwen already did that." Reyna laughed. More sarcastic humor! Things were turning out just as she'd hoped.

"Well, I doubt she did a very good job, I love Gwen, really, but sometimes she can just be grumpy." Percy just nodded, as though his mind was somewhere else, not paying attention to how flirty she was being.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "You seem a little quiet. Is something wrong?" She paused. "Look, if this is about the pillow pet, then I'm sorry, but we really don't—"

"It's fine," He replied flatly. "I just . . . had a weird dream."

"Oh." Reyna replied. He had just ruined her fun, happy would-be conversation. "That's understandable. All demigods have weird dreams at some point in their lives. It's really nothing to worry about."

"Ok." He looked doubtful. That left them with an awkward silence to deal with.

"So," she started. "Do you want to, uh . . . shoot?"

"Oh, um." Surprisingly, Percy looked a little embarrassed. "I don't um . . . I'm pretty bad. "

"Well then," Reyna said proudly. "I _am _one of the best shoots at camp. How about we talk while I teach you?" To her slight annoyance, Percy looked a little . . . uneasy about this request. Like the thought of doing anything with her made him uncomfortable. "Oh, I don't bite!" She finally muttered, annoyed. She dragged him by the wrist towards one of the target lines.

"Now," she started, shoving a bow into his hands."It's only your first full day here, so I'm gonna cut you a little slack. There's nothing to be nervous about, just find your inner peace, your inner rhythm, and shoot." First, Percy looked at the bow in his hands. Then he looked at the bottomless life-size quiver in the middle of the range, and then he looked back at Reyna, like she had just told him to go run a marathon with absolutely no training.

"Reyna, this is really nice of you and stuff, but, you have to understand, I cant shoot for my—"

"Just try it!" Reyna suggested brightly. "I promise, it's really fun!" Percy looked at her doubtfully, but slowly drew an arrow from the quiver and placed it in between the bow and the string. He pulled back, realeased, and . . . the arrow launched itself about 5 inches, and then hit the ground.

"Oh, well I guess you weren't joking." Reyna murmmered, staring blankly at the lifeless arrow. To her delight, Percy laughed.

"Thanks."

"No problem." There was a long pause, until Percy told her,

"Well, this was, uh, fun. I had a good time. Unfortuneatly at the moment though, I have to meet that Ares guy—"

"Mars."

"What?"

"You mean Mars. Ares is the Greek god."

"Is there really a difference?" Reyna's eyes darkened.

"Try . . . not to use Greek names for things here too often, Percy. It may not seem like it, but Greeks and Romans are very different cultures, different people, ways of life."

"But—"

"_Very _different."

"Ok. Anyway, I need to go meet that _Mars _guy, Dakota, for swordfighting. See you at dinner?"

"Totally!" Reyna said in the flirtiest way she knew how. She wanted him to at least have a few fond thoughts when he looked back at their first meeting together. The wiggled her fingers to wave goodbye, smiling hugely. She was sure that this wasn't going to be the first time she was alone with Percy Jackson.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: YOU DID IT! OH MY GODS! In one day, you guys all went from 37 reviews to 59! So, just as I promised, by next Friday, you will experience 10 brand-new chapters! On of the most frequently asked questions by reviewers in the last chapter was if Reyna liked Percy. Well, my friends, this chapter is here to let you find out! Oh, many have you have fallen into my trap! The last chapter was there to get your gears turning. If you want to find out: pay attention to the dialogue! After all, you'll find out in the next week, starting today. Thank you so much aro and SimpleHedley for reviewing all my chapters! (Gwendolyn's POV)**

Gwendolyn had been looking for Reyna all morning, since she'd woken up at six am. She'd gone to and left the shooting range five times already, and still _no _Reyna. This was extremely strange, considering the fact that Reyna, and most of her Apollo siblings woke up at four in the morning to train in swordfighting, footracing, monster identification, and, of course, shooting, shooting, and _more _shooting. Being a daughter of Sometimes it actually annoyed Gwen how much time her best friend spent on her shooting skills, because everyone at camp knew that Reyna didn't need any practice. She could make a pencil fly straight with a rubber band and a bent clothes hanger. Really, for Reyna and most of her siblings, "practicing" shooting was just another way for them to show off.

"Hey, Gwen!" Bobby, her friend from the Vulcan cabin jogged up to her, sporting his heavy, multi-functional armor. It was basically just plain old iron armor, but with a forged-in imperial gold inner layer, making the outing virtually indistructable. However, the coolest thing about the armor was all the little buttons that covered it, each with their own function. There had to be at least 300 different buttons, but so far, Gwendolyn had only gotten Bobby to show her the snack dispenser, GPS, compass, and drink holder, not the exciting things, which, according to Bobby, were, "precious Vulcan secrets".

"Hi, Bobby." You really couldn't call Bobby anything but that—Bobby. He didn't like Bob, and he _definitely _didn't like Robert. So, he just said, "call me Bobby!" whenever he introduced himself.

"So," Bobby started, placing his hands behind his back in a very proper way. "I was walking out of the forge, walking along, and I noticed that the Gwen Reaper was _not _training vigorously like she does every other day, but wandering along, like a cat. So I thought to myself, is the mentally ill child of Mars have a problem with something, or is she just ill?" Gwen laughed. No one, no _one _at the camp was allowed to call her "The Gwen Reaper", or "mentally ill" except for Bobby. He was one of the only people who could make her laugh.

"Nothing really that drastic is going on right now," Gwen replied, a trace of the laugh still in her voice. "I'm just looking for Reyna." Bobby raised his eyebrows.

"She's at the shooting range."

"No she's not, I've been there like, six times today. She's not there."

"Yes she is. She and that new kid Percy are over there practicing." Gwendolyn froze. _She and that new kid. Oh no. _Ignoring what was about to come out of Bobby's mouth next, she took off for the shooting range. What was Reyna doing with _him? _Two days ago Reyna would have gone to the shooting ranges with no one, not even Gwen, except for herself. So why was she there with the new kid?

"Thanks, Bobby!" she called back over her shoulder.

When she reached the shooting range, Gwendolyn slowed to a stop, and quietly peeked around the corner of the entrance to see Reyna, smiling like an idiot with her too-friendly, kinda-creepy Reyna giggly smile, wiggling her fingers goodbye to a rather confused looking Percy Jackson. When he left, Reyna put her arm down, and, still smiling, marched over to her favorite target post and began to shoot her gold arrows in perfect, straight, lines.

"Well, hello, Little Miss Sunshine." Reyna looked surprised, and a little nervous.

"Uh, good morning."

"Not really." Reyna must have noticed the annoyance in her tone, because she hung her head and muttered, "Sorry.", but Gwen was just getting started.

"Where were you all morning? I've been looking for you! And what were you dong with the newbie, huh? You never train with anyone, Reyna!"  
>"I just, um, wanted to talk to him about the way things work at the Legion!" Gwen looked at her friend, horrified. The truth was dawning on her.<p>

"Rey, do you, _like _him?" Reyna looked at her friend in shame. "Oh my gods, Reyna! He got here yesterday! And suddenly, poof! You just suddenly realize that you have a crush on him just because he is a child of one of the most powerful gods? None of us knows where he came from! No one knows about his old life! He could have a girlfriend! He could be married, for all we know!"

"Gwen, don't be ridiculous! He's only . . . our age." Gwendolyn looked at Reyna in disbelief.

"You don't know how old he is?" Reyna stared at her friend, a little embarrassed.

"I didn't ask, and he didn't tell me, but I can tell that he's around fifteen, or sixteen, . . . or seventeen."

"Reyna! Do you have a thing for this guy or what?"

"I . . . um . . . kind of. Not the same feeling I had about Jason, but, I like him, Gwen. I do. I think he's nice and funny." Reyna paused, and looked over to see her friend's reaction to that. Gwen paused, thinking of the right words to say.

"Look, if you like this guy, fine. But it seems to me that the only reason why you like him is because he's new, and he's something different, and he doesn't know anything or anyone here. If it were me, I would not do something risky like this. You never know. He might like someone, or have a girlfriend, or—"

"Oh, don't be so paranoid, Gwen! A mortal girlfriend?" Gwen stared into her friend's eyes, knowing that what she was about to say was going to cross some serious lines.

"Well Reyna, you never know. Maybe Jason has a mortal girlfriend right now, wherever he is." With that, she walked away from a shocked Reyna. She needed to find a certain demigod, and ask him a few important questions.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: So, this is the second chapter in the 10 chapter 7 days project, so I really hope you enjoy! Even though we've now reached 63 reviews, don't stop reviewing, even though there's not a contest anymore! I'd really appreciate it! Reccomended story: Reunion, by SimpleHedley. There are a bajillion things on fanfiction called Reunion, so just look up her homepage. Great story, I promise, don't forget to give her a bunch of awesome reviews! Anyway, this one might be a little short, but Percy's POV.**

After a "hardcore" training session with Dakota from the Mars cabin, (aka, the wonderful Gwen's half-brother) Percy went back to his tent. For some reason though, despite his recent back breaking workout, he couldn't stop thinking about his encounter with Reyna this morning. What was _that _all about? It had been odd, uncomfortable, and to be honest, it had kind of freaked him out. When he had first met Reyna, she had seemed . . . guarded, and controlled, like all her other fellow robot friends. However, something had seemed different about her, after all, when all the kids were trying to convince her the Percy had been some sort of spy. But she had put her foot down, and outside of his tent, talking to Gwendolyn, she had called him "the one". Something had been driving her to trust him, he had thought. And he could trust her. Maybe she would be one of the only people at camp who would actually enjoy his presence, but he would have to work hard to make her trust him completely. That was what he had thought, until earlier that morning.

And that meeting had really been nothing but _weird._ Sure, she was the daughter of Apollo, but really, he creepy, overly-happy attitude wasn't really normal. Was she nervous around him or something? Or was she just testing him, trying to see how he would react to her little game? A cold, harsh voice broke through his thoughts.

"Hey! Jackson! I need to talk to you!" Percy groaned. Nothing like a fun, happy daughter of Mars to lighter up your day. Percy walked out his tent to face her, a little annoyed. What did she want?

"What, Gwendolyn?" Gwendolyn stared him down like an annoyed mother, like, _you know what you did. _"What is it?" She paused, as though processing what to say. Finally, exasperated, she spat,

"Who _are _you, Jackson? And what are you doing at our camp?" Her question surprised him. This wasn't the normal stupid kind of question that a child of Mars would ask. It was a demanding, tell-me-right-this-instant-or-I-will-stab-you kind of question.

"W-what do you mean?" He stammered. Gwendolyn's eyes narrowed, her lips gnashed into one thin line.

"Let's play a little game, shall we?"

"A game? What kind of game?" Gwendolyn looked like she was about to strangle him.

"Not like a board game, you idiot!"

"Then what kind of game?"

"JUST A GAME!"  
>"Ok."<p>

"Ok." Gwendolyn relaxed her shoulders and took a deep breath. "So, how about I tell you where I'm from, and then you'll tell me where you're frem, OK? Ok. Before I came to the legion, I lived in Oregon with my mother, who was a professional gymnast, personal trainer, and kickboxer. What about you?" Percy froze. He didn't move. Where was he from. Where _was _he from? The only logical answer he could come up with was:  
>"I don't know." Gwendolyn looked smug.<p>

"Alright, then. How about another question? What is your favorite color?"

"I don't know. Wait, blue, I think."

"When is your birthday?"

"I don't know."

"Where were you born?"

"I don't know."  
>"Do you have any pets at home?"<br>"I don't know!"

"Percy, how old are you?"  
>"I DON'T KNOW!" Gwendolyn stopped pacing in circles to look him right in the eye.<p>

"Do you remember anything?" With that, Percy slid down the side of his tent, his head in his hands. Even though Gwendolyn had just asked him basically some of the simplest questions that could be asked, his not knowing the answers to basically any of them made him realize, he didn't know _anything _about his old life. Except for the possibility of a friend (or maybe even a girlfriend) in a sad, worried blonde girl lost in the woods. How sad and tired she must be, lost and defensless. She probably didn't even know how to use a knife.

"I woke up at that big run-down house of Lupa's one day." He finally said. "When I woke up, I couldn't remember _anything_. Not anything from my past. The thing is though, here, I can recognize things, like monsters and names and how to fight. And whenever I try to think of how I know them, my head starts to hurt so I stop. And then there was this girl . . ." Gwendolyn looked pensive, like she'd only processed the first few sentences.

"So . . ." she started. "You woke up at the Wolf House, and suddenly, you just, couldn't remember anything?" Percy nodded. "And what did Lupa say?"

"That if I came here I would find a way to get my memory back." Gwendolyn nodded.

"Percy," he looked up. "Do you know where you came from?"

"You already asked that question."

"Yeah, I know, but I mean . . . you just seem so different from everyone else here. And its not like you act more like a mortal, its like, you have been trained before, but trained differently."

"I would really like to tell you that I know that answer to your question, but honestly, I don't. Sometimes, it feels like all the information I need has already been planted in my head, but I don't know where it came from."

"We're going to do everything we can to help you, Percy, but for now, just train, like any other camper, and enjoy yourself, until we figure this out. I have to go. I'll tell you what? I'll give you a hall pass for the next period. Do whatever you want. I would personally want a nap after something like this happens, but it's up to you. And Percy?"

"Yeah?" A tiny smile played at her lips.

"Call me Gwen." Percy was confused.

"Does this mean that you don't hate me now?"

"Yeah. Sure."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: So, so, sooooo sorry for not updating like I said I would! I've been typing A LOT so you should expect at least 3 new chapters by the end of the day, and be warned: this is going to be a long one. Keep on reviewing, please! You should have your 10 chapters by Sunday night! Yay! Annabeth's POV.**

It was weird even to her how satisfied she was about what Annabeth saw when she examined the map that she had picked up at the train station. Sure, they had to wait a few days for a train that would take them to Carson City, Nevada (which was the closest train to California that they could find), and then walk completely on foot from there, but surprisingly, Annabeth was excited that they had reached the Nevada/California border in only a week. It was exciting to know that a week had gone by since their conversation on the playground in Phoenix, since her outburst about her hat. Still, even though it was the slowest she'd ever travelled on a quest, it was an improvement from their previous pace cross-country.

When they had finally reached the sign that marked the border of Nevada and California, Leo, being Leo, had cried out in a Randy Jackson-esc accent, "You are going to HOLLYWOOOOODDD!" which somehow made everyone snicker. Not because it was funny, but because they were so exhausted from not being able to sleep for the past few days.

Now, they were somewhere inside the Tahoe National Forest, trecking along like hitchhikers near route 80. Annabeth had no idea where the nearest bus station was, but she was sure that if they were lucky, they would be able to make it to San Francisco within the next four days. Closer to the Bay Area. Closer to Camp Vicious idiotic Roman people, home to the Stupid Idiotic Roman Members of the Female Gender. Most of which probably didn't have boyfriends.

At 7 o'clock, Leo, Piper, Jason, and Annabeth decided to treat themselves by going to bed early. After all, it had been a successful day. Leo volunteered the first watch, so after lighting a fire and toasting some random nut he found on the ground (which the others all declined helpings of) he took his post by standing up against a tree and pulling random things out of his tool belt.

Annabeth slid into her bedroll, expecting sleep to come instantly. But it didn't. She closed her eyes, and kept them shut, blocking out the light of the fire. Suddenly, she heard some rustling to her left. Startled, she opened one eye, only to see Jason getting up out of his bedroll and standing next to Leo. Annabeth wasn't normally one to eavesdrop, but she decided, _Hey, I'm pretending to sleep anyway. What am I supposed to do, block out the sounds of their voices? _

"I need to talk to you." She heard Jason's voice say quietly. He was obviously trying not to wake her and Piper up.

"Bout what?" Leo replied loudly. Leave it to a son of Hephestaus to not get the hint.

"About . . . girls." Leo snorted at this.

"You want _my _advice? You might as well ask a tree."

"Well I can't just ask Annabeth! Not with all the stuff she's going through with . . . you know."

"Percy Jackson?"

"Yeah." Annabeth did everything in her power not to stab something. Instead, she just grit her teeth.

"Ok, well then. I guess I could, uh, help. What's up?"

"It's abot Piper."

"Obviously."

"And my past." Neither of them said anything for a few seconds.

"Do you . . . think you have a girlfriend?"

Jason must have nodded, because after a few more seconds Leo asked,

"Does Piper know?"

"Yeah. I think she does. But the thing is, I'm not actually sure if she was my official girlfriend. I don't really think that we were like, an item or anything."

"So you pulled the "just friends" card?"

"Well, kinda, but we flirted a lot, and I think I liked her, but neither of us ever made it completely official."

"What was her name?"  
>"Reyna. Daughter of Apollo."<p>

"So, if you guys weren't dating, then why don't you just ask Piper out? It's obvious that she likes you, and you like her, so . . ."

"I don't know. I guess . . . I couldn't face Reyna if I showed up seeing someone, especially a _Greek _someone. I wouldn't be able to do something like that if I hadn't ended it with her first."

"So wait until we get there. Maybe you can talk to her in private, see what she says. It's always an option." There was a long silence before Jason finally said,

"Maybe. Thanks anyway Leo. I just needed someone to talk to."

"Anytime, man."

Annabeth heard Jason crawl back into his sleeping bag, and a few seconds later, she fell asleep.

In Annabeth's dream, she was in an arena, similar to the one at camp. Weapons lined the walls: swords of every shape, knives of every size, spears, gladiuses, javilans, and basically every other weapon imaginable. There were only two other people there, and they were drinking water, taking a break. One was a girl with long, white blonde hair and a petite body, wearing shiny head-to-toe silver armor, with nothing but a huge knife strapped to her side. It didn't seem right to even call it a knife it was so long: at least two feet or a yard. The other was wearing nothing but jeans and a purple tee-shirt, with jet-black hair and green eyes. He was unarmed. Percy.

"Gwen," he said to the girl. "I've known you for a while, right?" He sounded nervous, but Annabeth felt like she was going to throw up. Was he about to ask her out? The girl laughed.

"I wouldn't really call a week a long time, Percy. You only got here a week ago." _A week ago? _He had had to have been there at least a little bit longer then that! He was taken there in December!

"Yeah, I know but, you're the only friend I really have here, and I need someone to talk to."

"You have Reyna." The girl pointed out. Wait. _Reyna? As in, Jason's sort-of girlfriend, Reyna? _Percy laughed back at the girl.

"I wouldn't really call my archery coach a friend. Besides, whenever I'm around he acts all weird and smiles really big and laughs at things I say that aren't funny. Definitely more of a person who makes me uncomfortable than a friend."

Gwen shrugged and took a sip out of her water bottle. "Whatever. So, what do you want to talk about?"

Percy paused, as if thinking of the right wording. "I think I have a girlfriend." Gwen spit the water out of her mouth, leaving it wide open.

"What?"

"I think I have a girlfriend."

"Percy!" Gwen exclaimed. Annabeth had mixed feelings about this: joy and suspicion. Who was this Gwen anyway. And what was the deal with _Reyna? _Laughing at things that weren't funny. Smiling too big. Thank the gods Percy didn't even see her as a friend. Annabeth tensed, waiting for Gwen's reaction. "That's great!" Annabeth relaxed. "You're getting some of you're memory back! That's awesome!" Percy grinned.

"Well, I'm so happy that Grumpy Gwen finally has something to be happy about. Gwen poked him in the shoulder.

"All I'm saying is that it's great that some of your amnesia is going away. Daughters of Mars aren't all bad, you know. How did you figure that out, by the way?"  
>"A dream." Gwen raised her eyebrows like, <em>tell me more. <em>Annabeth almost laughed out loud. A daughter of Ares really couldn't be that optimistic, could she? "Ok, two dreams. The first one she was in the woods," Annabeth went pale. He had seen her crying? Apparently Percy felt uncomfortable too, because he just continued, "and she was, um, just talking. And the second one was a memory, I think. I was my birthday."

"And?" Both Percy and Annabeth blushed at the same time.

"We kissed." Gwen giggled. Definitely not an Ares thing.

"Percy, I'm really happy for you."

"Yeah."

"What are you going to do?" He paused.  
>"I think that she's . . . coming here. Or that she's close. I don't know how I know, I can just . . . feel it. I'm going to see her soon."<p>

"Are you excited?"

"Yeah."

"Then good." With that, the two of them started talking about different types of javelin throws, and then left the arena.

When Annabeth woke up, she was smiling up at Leo, Piper, and Jason, who were crowded around her. It must have been late in the morning, because the sun was high in the sky.

"What?"

"We couldn't wake you up." Piper explained, looking a little worried. "It was like you had gone into a coma. We were worried."

"Oh." Annabeth replied, still smiling. "Sorry. We'd better get going." She got out of bed, swirled up her bedroll, and set out along with her friends to find the nearest bus stop, as they had yesterday. She had a new swing in step, a new confidence. _He remembered. _


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Bear with me here, people, quest time is almost upon us! Chapter 16 is gonna be a little short, but full of fluff, so prepare yourself! There is only so much one can do to control their laughter! Haha, soooo keep dem reviews coming! This chapter is gonna be (in the words of Rebecca Black) fun! fun! fun! fun! Reyna's POV**

Maybe Gwen was right. Maybe Reyna didn't really like Percy. Maybe she just wanted something to take her mind off Jason, because Percy was something new, and fun, and exciting for her. Wait, never mind. Gwen _was _right, like she usually was. It was extremely odd that Mars had taken a liking to Gwen's mom, because she wasn't a truck driver or a pagent girl. She was an intelligent, kind Stanford grad who had been on the gymnastics team, excelled in kickboxing, and owned her own personal training business. According to Gwen, she was as kind as mothers got, so it was strange that she took a liking to the war god. Gwen was right about Reyna's feelings for Percy, but you know what? Reyna really didn't care.

She _loved _convincing herself that she liked him, even though she'd only known him for a week. It was fun to fantisize about him, to wonder whether or not he liked her back. It was exciting to wonder what he would do to admit his feelings for her, want her. Reyna had never truly felt wanted, and she was ready to give it a try.

With Jason, what made it the most fun was batting her eyelashes at him, flirt with him, and whisper how cute he was over and over in Gwen's ear. She knew that Gwen would always roll her eyes, or tell her that she was absolutely crazy, but she always knew one thing: Gwen supported her, had her back. She had _wanted _her and Jason to be together, because she knew that Reyna was positive about it. She had known that she wanted Jason, and it was her goal. Nothing was going to change her mind.

With Percy though, it was a bit like a placeholder, something to keep her occupied before Jason returned. And how many times had she dreamed about _that _situation? Him running to her, hugging her, kissing her, telling her how much he wanted her, had missed her.

"Reyna!" she turned to see Percy walking towards her, his bow strapped onto his shoulder.

"Hey!" she replied happily. She was in a bubbly mood today, and seeing Percy only made her more excited. "How's my favorite archery student doing today?" Percy looked confused, and flashed her an awkward smile. It was so cute how shy he was!

"Um, I think I'm your only archery student, but I guess I'm good." Reyna threw her head back and laughed. He was _so _funny! If only he would add a little flirticiosness to his jokes, then it would be funnier.

During the lesson, Reyna taught Percy all about target precision, and shooting the arrow straight. There was barely any conversation, but to Reyna, it only made it a little more dramatic. By the time it was over, and he was leaving she blurted out stupidly,

"So do you have a girlfriend?" Percy looked really confused (his normal expression), like he didn't know what to say. Then, he replied,

"Maybe." He then turned around, and walked a little faster then usual. Reyna was frustrated. _Maybe_. Maybe! What was that supposed to mean? If he had said it in a lighter tone, then maybe she would have thought he was flirting and referring to her, but his tone was 100% serious. _Maybe. _She knew one thing: she needed to talk to Gwen. And that wasn't a "maybe".

**A/N: sorry for the super shortness, but big stuff is about to happen and I needed something to go in between! **


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Chapter 17, Gwen's POV! Thank you so much for all of your reviews! Keep on reviewing! A prediction: In the real version of The Son of Neptune, I think that Annabeth will be able to communicate with Percy through dreams or their thoughts, but will never make an actual appearance until the third book . I'm really hoping that this doesn't happen, but I'm trying to keep my hopes down Percabeth-wise. I did the opposite while reading the Lost Hero, and I was practically in tears by the cliffhanger ending. Also, a question (no offense to a few fanfic writers who are reading this) what's with this Thalico business? I've been reading a bunch summaries for stories on the PJO page and I have to just point one thing out: Thalia is an immortal huntress of Artemis (i.e. no dating or death) and would probably be in her twenties if not for her turning into a tree. Nico, however, is like, 13, and not immortal. So, no offense, how, logically, can "Thalico" exist? Just saying . . . Gwen's POV**

Gwen was ecstatic. It had turned out that Percy had ended up being a pretty good friend, and nice comic relief. He was easy to talk to, even though she had known him only a week. He wasn't complicated, like Reyna, or even Bobby. He was nice and easygoing. Reyna, on the other hand . . .

She was in a particullary good mood (surprisingly, she had been in a bunch of those lately) today, especially after her conversation with Percy earlier that morning. They had decided to hit the arena early, so that it wasn't as crowded, before his archery "lesson" with Reyna. A girlfriend! This was perfect! Now she didn't have to worry about Reyna, and Reyna didn't have to worry about him. For some reason, the thought of Reyna liking Percy was even more aggravating then her worrying about Jason 24/7, because it wasn't out of admiration. It was out of selfishness, desperation. She didn't like Percy the way she liked Jason. He was a distraction, a way to get her mind all bubbly and happy again because it was off of Jason. If you had met Apollo, you would understand. Self-happiness was on the top of the list for all of his children. Even before she had officially befriended Percy, this had been a problem for her.

She spotted Bobby near the forest, sharpening his knife, and approached him.

"Hey." He smiled when he saw her walking over, and dropped his knife to his side. "What's up?" She returned his smile.

"Oh, nothing." She paused. "Reyna." They both laughed.

"Oh, yes. There is _always _something going on with Reyna. What now?"

"She's trying to convince herself that she likes Percy."

"The son of Neptune that came last week?"  
>"Yeah, him." Bobby raised his eyebrows at her.<p>

"You seem to be spending a lot of time with that guy lately." He grinned.

"It's not like that, besides, he's got a girlfriend back home, which wouldn't matter anyway since I'm not interested." Bobby just nodded. He knew when she was lying and not. Bobby could read her like an open book.

"And Reyna is?"

"She's . . . trying."

"Oh."

A new voice called out from behind her, "Gwen!" it didn't sound happy.

"Speak of the devil." Bobby muttered. Gwen rolled her eyes.

"See you later?" Bobby cracked a grin. For a child of Vulcan, he was actually pretty attractive.

"Yeah."

"GWEN!" Gwen turned around to meet a steaming Reyna.

"What, Rey?" she asked in her nice voice. She was expecting what was coming.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Reyna spat through gritted teeth.

"Tell you what?" Gwen replied sweetly.

"About _Percy Jackson's girlfriend!"_ Reyna practically hissed, similarly to a snake.

Gwen's good girl expression was wiped right off her face. "I didn't know until five minutes before your little "lesson", and trust me, all I know is that she's a girl, and he's excited to see her! I had know idea until about an hour ago! What was I supposed to do?"

"Tell me!" Reyna barked. Gwen's willpower crumbled, and she got angry.

"You should be happy!" she snapped at Reyna, who stood defiantly with her arms crossed.

"Why?"

"Because you DON'T LIKE HIM! You're just looking for a stupid excuse to get your mind off of Jason! You feel sorry for yourself because you haven't had a boy to dream about in a while so your making up feelings! You're being selfish Reyna! Just like you ALWAYS HAVE!"

"Well, maybe I'm not the selfish one!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're always the one who tells me not to do things! You never care about my feelings! You're just a grouchy, annoying, _out-of-control _daughter of Mars!"

Gwen turned on her heel and walked away with that comment. She was disgusted. She didn't want to look at Reyna, at least for another 24 hours. She had just had a daughter-of-Mars moment, and was still angry about it. What did Reyna ever do for her, anyway? What quality did she have in a friend? Why were they even friends? Gwen didn't know. She needed to talk to Bobby again, but he was probably back to the forges, and if he was, there was about a 2% chance that he would be even slightly social. Either way, Gwen needed someone to talk to. For the first time in her life, Gwen didn't feel confident and independent. She felt alone.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: It just occurred to me! There can only be so many people on this earth that can, indeed, be awesome. Only so many things can excel in true awesomeness! Alas, dear viewers, you have come into that category. Thank you for all your reviews, alerts, favorites, and PMs! I will keep the chapters coming, people! Yay! Oh, and remember, my favorite cereal is Cocoa Pebbles, so please send me some! Haha just kidding. By cocoa pebbles (which are, by the way, my favorite cereal, so don't judge, they taste good!) I mean reviews. Annabeth's POV**

Annabeth felt on top of the universe. Finally. In just two days. They had made it to San Francisco. For a trip that would usually take five in their position, it took two. Of course, it wouldn't have been the case without the help of a few of Chiron's siblings, but that didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that they were actually in San Francisco, and in as little as a few hours, their master plan would unfold into greatness. And then, _finally_, she would get Percy back.

The four (rather disgusting looking) demigods proceeded into the city their heads held high. To break an awkward silence that was sure to build due to their nervousness of the night ahead, Annabeth began to spew random facts about San Francisco.

"Over there, is AT&T Park, where the San Francisco Giants play."

"That's a cable car, which is a bit like a public bus for the common San Franciscan, but it's attached to a wire because of the city's many hills and drops."  
>"Oh! And over <em>there <em>is the St. Francis Yaht Club, right down near the Bay Area."

"That's the Plant! Voted the healthiest restraunt in the world! It's all vegan!"  
>"That's Coit Tower! Built in memory of deceased firefighters!"<br>"There's Mount Tam! Old location of-"

"Mount Othyrs." Jason finished for her. "_Old _home of the Titans."

"Until the Romans killed it!" Leo added. Jason looked a little smug.

"Yes." They kept walking the streets of San Francisco, before Leo spotted a $20 bill on the street. They then took a cable car out of the city, and into the woods. For the next hour, they traveled on foot towards Oakland, until they reached the top of a hill.

"Down there." Jason told them when they reached the top. He pointed towards a valley filled with large redwood trees. "Somewhere down there is the entrance. However, "down there" was about as far down as a hill could get. They carefully helped each lower themselves down the hill until they reached the bottom.

"Where's the entrance?" Piper asked. In return, Jason, felt the trunk of almost every single one of the trees in the clearing, until he reached one extremely large one.

"Here." He said, careful not to step in the large hole carved inside which led to the under ground tunnel below. "It's here." They all stared at the hole in the tree, knowing that it would take a while for them to figure it out.

"Let me look at it." Leo volunteered. Carefully avoiding stepping on the hole, he conjured a flashlight out of his toolbelt and flashed it at the tree. After a few minutes, he concluded, "It's built extremely securely. There are at least twelve triggers, three alarms, and basically a bunch of other stuff that will tell whoever's down there: "ALERT! ALERT! NEW KID!" It's gonna take a few hours for me to disable it, but that's just something to do before tonight. Get busy."

Everyone agreed, they had time to kill. Annabeth and Piper found rocks to sharpen their knives. Jason practiced throwing a gladius at a tree. They were all silent, knowing that their mission would have to be done as quietly as possible. IN and out. They could do that, right?


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: So sorry for the delay! I had friends over all weekend and had no chance to write! Gods, that's must sound stupid, but it's true! Anyway, after this, there's three more chapters to go before I'm done with my 10-chapters-in-a-week streak, so brace yourself! Also, a warning: on July 26****th****, I'll be going to a summer camp for three-and-a-half weeks, and then, going on my dream vacation (even before I read PJO), wait for it . . . GREECE! I have **_**always **_**wanted to go to Greece, and now me and my family are all going to Athens, Santorini, and a bunch of other places! Anyways, the point is, you'll probably get a few updates in between late August and early September, but not nearly as many. Sorry . Ooo, also, lets try to hit 100 reviews before that date! And P.S.S., mini-poll question: Who do you think Leo's gonna end up with? Reyna? Some random person we haven't met yet? Whoooo? Reyna's POV**

Gwendolyn Vena was a selfish, lying, arrogant princess who pranced around camp like she was better than everybody else. She was bossy, annoying, nagging, and, as far as Reyna was concerned, not even that pretty. Thoughts like these were what had gotten Reyna through the past two days. It was hard for children of Apollo to stay mad for so long without apologizing or trying to make these better. It was worse for Reyna, because in this situation it was her best friend.

They hadn't talked since the fight two days ago, and whenever Reyna tried, Gwen would stick her nose in the air in persistence and walk away to talk to her friends Hazel and Bobby, or her brother Dakota, or Percy. That was what Reyna realized she envied about Gwen: she was a born leader, like Jason. Sure, she was cold and harsh, but she was also kind and friendly, too, and made people feel comfortable. Reyna couldn't do that. When it came to the way she was, it was always about winning, achieving the main goal. Defeating the enemy. Defending your honor. Gwen could care about all of those things while being a friendly (well, maybe not "friendly", but could comfort people) at the same time. It wasn't fair.

And then there was Percy. They barely talked at their archery sessions anymore unless it was about strategy, aim, or what type or arrows did what. And then, later, Reyna would see him talking to Gwen like they'd been friends for ages, in a way that she could never talk to him. Despite their fight, Reyna's feelings for Percy hadn't changed much, besides one fact: she knew that she didn't feel things for Percy the way she had for Jason, but she would still be angered if she saw him with another girl.

Reyna shook her head back and forth the way a dog did to its whole body when it was trying to dry itself off after a bath. Tonight, against all odds, she and Gwendolyn would be the two people who would watch the south side of the border, aka, the side that rarely got attacked by anything, because it was on the border of the valley facing _away _from the entrance to the main console tunnel. Great. Spending an entire night next to Gwen, silently awkward. And of course, Percy and Hazel would get the _exciting _side of the border, the one right next to it. Of course the child of Ceres got to defend the most dangerous part of camp. Reyna loved Hazel, but she sometimes wondered why such a poor fighter was one of her (sorry, Lupa's) praetors.

Watching the guard was the most dreaded job of everyone at camp. Lupa had some weird cycle that she used, with two or three praetors and one or two regular campers. Lucky Reyna had gotten assigned with Gwen and Percy. Good for her. Of course, there were a few perks. Instant Starbucks machines had been installed by the Vulcan cabin to keep people awake at night, with extra Starbucks snacks on the side. Reyna didn't accosiate with mortals that often, but she knew one thing: they knew their caffeinated beverages.

The other perk was sleeping in for as late as you want the next day, and being able to go to the armory and pick any one or amount of weapons that you wanted, even if it wasn't yours. Reyna had had her eye on a Vulcan-esque multi-functional bow and quiver for about three weeks. They also got to wear these really cute bandit hats that completely covered your hair and face, (even your eyes!) along with leather missel-proof jackets! She couldn't wait to try them out.

Suddenly, Reyna spotted Gwen in the corner of the armory where she had been practicing knifing. In the corner. Alone. The kid from the Mercury cabin had just left. And Gwen was taking a water break. IN the corner. Alone. Without really thinking about what she might possibly say, Reyna marched up to Gwen and demanded,

"Why won't you talk to me?" Gwen was staring at her blankly, her facial expression completely blank. She took another sip of her water bottle, and while she was taking a swig, shrugged, like it really didn't matter to her. This got Reyna mad. Why didn't she care? This had been driving her crazy for the past two or three days. And Gwen was just sitting here drinking water like it really didn't matter? She looked like she didn't give a Pluto!

"Why?" she asked again. "It was a stupid fight, Gwendolyn! We were both tired, and worn out! We weren't really processing what the other person was saying! We weren't listening! We were being idiots!" Reyna waited a few seconds. She was tired, and at the moment, all she really wanted was a hug from her best friend in the world. Inatead, Gwen just stood up, took another drink, looked her in the eyes and said,

"Maybe you weren't but I was paying attention." And walked out of the arena. Reyna wanted to shrivel up into a bit and roll into nothingness. She sprinted out of the arena, into her cabin, programmed the soundproof drapes around her luxiorious canopy bed, and began to cry like she hadn't in ages. Not since the first night that Jason was gone. She needed a friend, and at that moment, she didn't have one.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Man, love can hurt sometimes . . . in all of my past twenty reviews there have been shouts, pleads, persuations, begs, and screams at me and my poor story to update soon, which I understand! You want to find out about Annabeth and Percy? Well, get that popcorn out, folks because this chapter is going to be gooooood to anyone who's interested in that happening! Ahh, keeping you all waiting and pleaing has been FANTASTIC (evil laugh)! But, alas all that preparation for quest and love time has finally paid off! (At least, in my book). This one might be one of my longest ones yet! Prepare, young viwers . . . PERCY'S POV**

Percy didn't understand why he had to pair up with _Hazel_, and not Bobby or even Dakota. It wasn't fair. He didn't need to hear Gwen babble about her to know that the daughter of Venus was a complainer and a _really _bad fighter. Sigh. And she wasn't even someone that he could talk to, like Gwen. She was annoying. It was going to be a long night, sitting here next to the empty tunnel tube, knowing that absolutely nothing was going to happen. Great.

"Uh, Peter?" Hazel's annoying voice asked him, stretching the "r" so it sounded like she had Peterrrrrrrrrrrr.

"My name's Percy." He muttered through his black bandit hat. He looked ridiculous, he knew, but at the moment, he didn't really care. "What?"

"I'm uhhh, gonna go get a latte from the machine. Make sure no one attacks camp, K?" Percy stifled a groan. Leave it to a daughter of Aphrodite, sorry, "Venus" to tick you off. All they did was water their flowers all day.

"Fine." He muttered. This was boring. What was the point of keeping an eye on things if "things" never even happened? He waited a long time for Hazel to get her latte, until suddenly he heard a noise from inside the tunnel. He was almost positive that he'd heard a kid say, "Ow!" slowly and quietly, he peered his bandit-hat covered head over the side of the opening. Nothing but blackness. _You're paranoid because you think that your blonde girlfriend . . . Anna? Abba? _Look at him. He had already forgotten her name. The only connection to his past was already fizzling out in his mind. He snorted. What idiot forgot about their girlfriend? Him. Hazel finally returned with a frothy latte with the mermaid logo on the side (she hadn't bothered to get _him _anything, of course). They both waited a while before suddenly, out of the tunnel tube, there came a loud, BANG! At the same time, Percy and Hazel bolted both of the bandit-hat covered heads over the side of the tunnel, squinting to see if anything was there. Again, only darkness. There had _definitely _been something there. Strangely, neither of them stupidly never thought of flashing a flashlight down the tunnel to see three half-bloods worming their way up the tunnel, clad in black clothes from Walmart.

The next hour continued in silence. Hazel had taken out her gardening book and sat down on a log, and Percy was pretty sure she'd fallen asleep. Everything was calm and quiet, until Percy heard the faint clang of footsteps on metal.

As slowly as he could, he backed into the shadows of the forest, hiding behind a large redwood. He lightly tapped Hazel, who was snoring next to him on her log, until her eyelashes fluttered open.  
>"Someone's coming." He breathed in her ear. She looked at him, then back at the tunnel, and lightly proceeded to slip behind the tree next to him. Her gardening book was still lying on the ground. The two demigods waited a few more seconds until a soft, light voice came from inside the tunnel.<p>

"I'll go up."

Percy uncapped his sword and held it close, hoping to conceal the faint glow. Suddenly, a black figure, obviously a girl, climbed quietly out of the tunnel and onto the wall above which marked the border of the valley. Her sillouette was black against the light of the moon, so you couldn't see her face, but you could see what she was wearing. She looked like she was about to rob a bank, wearing black leggings, a thin black turtleneck sweater, black leather gloves, and a big black ski hat. Her hair, (whatever color it was, Percy couldn't see it through his thick bandit hat) was pulled back into a tight ponytail that rested on her shoulder. If there was a criminal attire fashion show, this girl would fit right in.

Suddenly, she began to run along the wall, with feet so light and nimble it was like she was a bird. When she reached the end of the wall, she did a stunning flip in the air, and landed in a crouching position so gracefully Percy would have thought she was a shadow if he couldn't see her in plain sight. He wished he could take off his bandit hat so he could get a better look at her, but apparently, that made his head and face more vulnerable. It was almost a shame that he would have to attack someone like that.

The girl pulled a glowing bronze knife out its sheath by her side, and inched across the wall and the perimeter of camp. It was obvious that her plan was to hide in the shadow of the wall to be as safe as possible, and then pull the other intruders out of the tunnel. Percy couldn't help but admire her close planning. It must have taken hours to prepare the exact plan, disable all the alarms inside the tunnel . . . he knew someone _just _like that, somewhere, careful, organized, everything thought through . . . the girl was now five feet away from the tunnel entrance. She stepped out into the open.

Out of no where, Hazel, being stupid, dove out from behind her tree and lunged towards the girl. She began to full out the long, heavy sword in her sheath, but the intruder knocked it right out of her hand. It was a worthless fight, but Hazel took out her tiny gold knife from her other sheath, and for about a minute or two, the two blades collided in a fight. Percy watched as the girl in black used her knife in ways he had never seen before, with tequnices that were alien to anyone at the Legion.

Hazel finally noticed him, and spat out of in between gritted teeth,

"Well? What are you doing just standing there, idiot? Help—" before she could say me, the mysterious girl sliced a small cut in Hazel's arm, shoved her backwards, and turned on her heel towards Percy. He thought he heard her mutter,

"Weakling child of Aphrodite." Before she pulled something blue and white out of her back pocket, and put it on. Within seconds, the girl was completely invisible.

Percy first felt a tiny pressure on his missel-proof jacket, and looked over to see a small dagger-slash on his jacket. Instinctivly, he raised his sword, only to find it meeting the stranger's knife in a shower of sparks. They parried and fought for about ten minutes straight, never taking breaks. It was strange, how their fighting pattern seemed to fit together so well, even though he couldn't see her.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Percy tripped on a Hazel's gardening book, and fell backward, taking the strange girl with him. His bandit hat caught on a branch and was lifted right off of his head. They both hit the ground, hard.

Percy lifted his head. He now had clear vision, because his hat was off. He turned to his right, where the girl was flat on her stomach, and visible, clearly drowsy from the fall. Her ponytail was blonde. On her left was a Yankees white and blue baseball cap. Seeing it, for some reason, made Percy's brain hurt. He had seen that thing before . . .

Slowly, picking up her knife, the girl stood up. Her back was towards him, until she turned around.

An expression of absolute shock clouded over both of their faces. The girl started backing away from him, and then, turning around, she bagan to run. Percy was about to follow her, before picking up her invisibility cap. It was her. This was her's. She was here. This wasn't just some random insturders' magical item. It was _Annabeth's_.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: sooooo sorry for not updating in ages, but, anyway, here's the next chapter! Probably gonna be pretty short, but Percy's POV**

Jason, Piper and Leo tumbled out of the tunnel. Jason didn't know why Annabeth was half an hour late, but he assumed that since they had been waiting that long without hearing anything, it was safe to go out. Unfortunatley, Jaosn realized that his instincts about his old home might have needed some updating, because there, on the ground, was a guard in the classic Roman leather jacket (though he wasn't wearing his bandit hat, which Jason found strange), armed with a glowing . . . _bronze _sword?

Whoever this guy was, Jaosn had definitely not seen him before at camp, but whoever he was, he did not look like he had been having a good day. His hands dangled lifelessly across his knees, and his hand collapsed right in between them. He was mumbling something, that was for sure. Jason was almost afraid to approach him, as if he was going to pop up with fangs and a forked tongue.

Leo, (being Leo) was stupid enough to boldly walk up to the depressed guard and tapped him on the shoulder. Jason felt Piper's finger melt into his own and squeezed it. In a different situation, Jason, would have blushed, or smiled, but all he could manage to do was squeeze it back.

The guy lifted his head. To all of their surprise, it was stained with tears. Strangely familiar sea-green eyes looked at all three of them. Leo, obviously awkward, cleared his throat.

"Um, hi. Have you, uh, seen a . . . girl?" The guy on the ground looked at Leo like, _You just climbed out of an underground tunnel into enemy territory, and you expect to pick up chicks? _"She's uh . . . seventeen, about 5 foot . . . really tall. She was curly hair." The guy stood up and looked at all three of them, and Jason sensed an aura of leadership in him, just by watching him stand up. He was about as tall as Annabeth, and looked a little bit older than Jason. He had black hair, green eyes, that were now slightly red.

"She's blonde, right?" Leo nodded. "Let meeeee guess," the guy continued. "She's a daughter of Athena, she has a passion for architechture, she has a father who works in aireal dinamics, a stepmother, two stepbrothers named Bobby and Matthew, and has a best friend named Percy Jackson. Her name is Annabeth." He concluded. "I've known that for about six years now." All three of them stared at the strange, sad boy. Realization seemed to seep over the group like fog.

"Y-You're" Jason stammered. He hadn't expected the guy that everyone back at camp had been talking about to look like this. He looked like a normal teenager, and he wasn't wearing a cape or anything (OK, so sometimes Jason had pictured him with a cape on sometimes. So what?), he was just a normal teenager, no different than Jason. Just in the wrong place. "Percy Jackson."

"Yes." Percy replied, looking at them strangely. It was obvious that he wasn't really sure why they were treating him so specially, but he nodded. "Yes. And Annabeth just ran in the opposite direction." He pointed towards a clearing in the woods sadly.

"Why do you have her Yankees cap?" Piper noticed the blue and white cap in his hands. Percy fingered in gently, like it might shatter.

"She dropped it."

"Where is she?" Percy's eyes were filled with sadness as he stared at all of them. It was obvious that he didn't want to repeat it, but quietly, he replied,

"Like I said, she ran off that way." Jason was about to ask another question, but before he could, a rather angry Piper cut in,

"And you _didn't _run after her? Percy, for the past six months she's been crying in her cabin because of you! You have to go, and catch her, or else there's no way of the two of you getting back together!" Percy stared at Piper, a girl he didn't even know, as if to say, _Are you sure? _Piper nodded her head. "Go!" With that, the demigod took of towards the direction where Annabeth had ran, after grabbing his sword and the Yankee's cap. Jason watched his go, awed by the fact that he had just met the person he was supposed to be enemies with.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: sooooo sorry for not updating in ages, but, anyway, here's the next chapter! I won't be updating for about a month, because of summer camp, but expect a quest when I get back! Hope youlike, and I will see you soon! Annabeth's POV**

Annabeth ran. And ran. And ran more. She didn't care about the way he'd looked at her, or the flicker in recognition in his eyes, or the way he had seemed to expect every blow she'd laid down on him. The only thing that she could think about was how what had just happened wasn't supposed to have happened at all. The second that she had seen it was him, the random guy in the bandit hat who she'd been trying to kill, she couldn't face him.

The way that encounter had happened over and over again in her head the past few weeks was the way it was supposed to happen. She would show up and knock on the door of the posiedon cabin, dressed in black, and tell him everything. Right then and there. Not about their relationship, of course, she would expect him to remember that after his dream, but about Camp Half-Blood, their quests, and how Hera had switched him and Jason. She didn't remember trying to kill him in that imaginative encounter.

Annabeth could now hear sirens going off. They meant: "attack the crazy blonde girl who tried to break into camp", obviously. Why did it have to happen this way? Percy was sitting in the ground, trying to understand what had just happened, no doubt, while she ran away from here fears like a coward and a cheat, unable to face him.

Things wouldn't have turned out the way they did, though, if she'd hadn't run. She would have been going back down the tunnel with him, on their way back to Camp Half-Blood, where he would realize that home was there, not this underground dump known as a camp. On the other hand, what if he didn't remember? What if that dream had only been a dream, and nothing else. And then, Annabeth would start to cry for real.

She kept on running. If only she could find a place to hide for the night and then, in the morning, she would crawl back down the tunnel, back to Camp Half-Blood, where it was safe. Suddenly, out of no where, _WHOOSH! _An arrow sailed past Annabeth's ear, nearly missing her. She whipped around, finding herself face-to-face with a girl with golden armor and a brown braid, her bow drawn.

Annabeth reacted as quickly as she could, but she soon realized that the girl in gold had backup: and it came in blonde and silver. She noticed that the girl was holding the bow with a velvet touch: she was a born archer. It was madness, but Annabeth threw her knife right at the bow, slicing through the string like it was thread. It dropped limply to the ground. Golden girl looked like she was ready to kill.

Fending off the silver blonde was harder. The only weapon she carried was a silver raiper, but it was wickedly sharp. It was much of a fight, because soon the silver girl had her arm wrapped around Annabeth's neck, her sword pointed at her heart.

_Well, _Annabeth thought _this is a stupid way to die. _But right before she plunged the metal into her flesh, a voice cried,

"Stop!" Everyone looked up to see none other than Percy Jackson, his sword pointed at Gwen. "Put. Her. Down." Silver looked at him like he was crazy. "NOW!" This seemed to scare the blonde, because lightly she unwound herself from Annabeth. Percy approached her.

"Are you Ok?" Annabeth chose her words with care.

"Fine. I'm sorry for running. I mean, it wasn't like I could just sit there and explain everything to you, and I'm sorry for that. It was stupid and unwise. Which is weird because being the daughter of Athena, usually I—" Percy kissed her before she could finish her sentence. It was so unexpected, and so very _Percy _that she felt like she was going to cry. She had missed him so much. And here he was, kissing her, right in front of his Roman . . . friends? It was perfect.

He broke off, and looked her right in the eyes.

"I missed you, Annabeth." He whispered.

"I missed you too, Seaweed Brain."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: IIIIIIIII'MMMMMM BACCCCKKKKK! Did you miss me? Or just my story? I bet you did! Anyway, camp was fun (I'm pretty sure you guys really don't care, but I'm just saying) but now I'm back to doing what I do best—writing, going on runs whenever I feel like it (thank god), seeing my friends, and watching TV. So, before I make you wait any longer, here, my friends, is Chapter 23! It may be a little short, but I have to go with my parents to pick someone up at the airport at 10, so . . .(Reyna's POV)**

For a minute, Reyna couldn't understand what she was seeing. Sure, her vision had been blurry for the past few minutes after that . . . that _witch _had knocked her to the ground and she had risen to her feet and nibbled a little ambrosia. The next series of events had contained of Gwen capturing the intruder, and then Percy coming in and . . . _defending _her? And now, from her place of next to Gwen (who she was still wickedly mad at) she was pretty sure that Percy, _her _Percy, was kissing the intruder. She looked over to see a Gwen who's facial expression matched her mood: confused, hurt, and _furious_. Gwen looked over back at her, and they exchanged a silent understanding. _One, two, three. _

Reyna clamped her hand over the blonde girl's mouth, grabbed the girl's dagger from its sheath, and dragged her away, holding onto her as tightly as she could. The girl may have been able to beat Reyna in hand-to-hand combat, she was no match for her strength. Or makeshift scarf/handcuffs.

Percy was about to follow her (to get his stupid little girlfriend back, no doubt) when Gwen unsheathed her raiper* menacingly at him. Her eyes were squeezed into slits as she spat at him,

"No, no, lover boy. You're coming with me." Reyna continued dragging the girl through the forest until finally they reached the meeting house. Reyna kicked open the door, and dragged the blonde into the interrogation room, sat her down, struggling, in a chair, and bound her hands and feet with rope. Reyna stood back against the wall to admire her handiwork. For a few moments she and the stranger exchanged and long, deadly, stare. The hatred between them was annonymus—and very, very strong.

Reyna reaching over and grabbed the book of intterrigation records that had been at the legion since it had first been established—over 200 years ago. Only fifteen people had been recorded in that time. The icy silence continued for another three or four minutes or so, and finally, Reyna asked,

"Name?" the blonde girl was silent. "_Name?" _Reyna repeated. She waited a minute before the girl replied,

"Annabeth. Annabeth Chase." _Annabeth? _Her name was _Annabeth_? What kind of name was that? Reyna had heard of Annabel and Elizabeth as names for girls, but never once had she heard the name Annabeth.

"An_na_beth." Reyna repeatred as she scribbled it down in the record book. "Yes, and what business do you have here? Why did you come?" Annabeth was silent, and Reyna knew why. After that _episode _in the woods with Percy, her intentions were obvious. She had something to do with his past: a _big _something. So, considering the circumstances, Reyna asked a simpler question.

"What business do you have here that has to do with Percy Jackson?" Reyna demanded. Annabeth glared at her for a few more moments, before she answered the question."

"We—I . . ." She sighed, as though she was thinking of the right words to say. "Percy and I, we, we've been best friends since we were twelve years old." This shocked Reyna a little (_six _years?), but she hid it as she took the notes in the record book. "We've gone on four quests together, fought a war together, and we're in love with each other. We started dating on August 18th, last year. **(A/N: Today, is actually August 18****th****, so tequnically speaking, it is Percy Jackson's 18****th**** birthday, and he and Annabeth have been together two years.)"**

That statement took Reyna off guard. Usually victims never admitted to something that personal, but Annabeth must have really thought that she was going to be able to leave with her little boyfriend after this was over, no big deal. Well, as far as Reyna was concerned, that was not going to happen.

Right before Reyna was about to ask what on earth this girl thought she was capable of, the alarm went off again. Dakota's voice rang throughout the legion:

_"Two, possibly three intruders spotted on the northern border. Backup needed. Be on the lookout. One male, one female. Backup needed." _Reyna, never hesitant to obey a command, dropped everything in her hands and dashed out the door, leaving Annabeth alone in her chair. She was in too much of a hurry to realize her mistake: Annabeth's bronze dagger was lying on the floor of the intterigation room, perfectly usable.

***raiper= thin, super-sharp bladed sword used in the time of Shakespeare. **


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Soooooo sorry for writing such a super-short chapter yesterday (I must admit, I was rushing a bit) but I was sitting in my room (for the first time in three weeks, I might add) wondering what I could do to carry on with the rest of the story. Of course before I could think of totally fantastically super-awesomely perfect transition, my mother informed me that we were leaving to go down to the shore at 12. WRITING UNDER PRESSURE! So, I tried my best, but I'm sorry that it only ended up being a page and a half on Word. So, I'm in my beach house now, planning on writing a much, much longer chapter. (Percy's POV)**

Percy wriggled out of Gwendolyn's grip within five seconds and about ten later (by the time he had started sprinting after Reyna, prepared to knock her cold), he was stopped by a sentence that made him want to tear the bark off a nearby tree.

"Take one more step, Percy Jackson and I'll release." He turned to see Gwendolyn, whom he had thought was his friend, holding Reyna's golden bow, which was knocked with one of Reyna's golden arrows. It was poised in a shooting position, with the golden string pulled to the corner of Gwen's mouth. All she needed to do was let go . . .

"What do you want?" He shouted, his rage engulfing him in an instant. Gwen's face twisted with anger, matching his. She threw the bow to the ground. The notched golden arrow zipped from the bow and hit the trunk of a nearby tree.

"Why are you . . . _romantically involved _with the intruder?" she demanded back. Her arms were in straight lines by her sides, her hands balled into fists. With her annoyed, angry tone, she looked like an impatient child waiting her turn on the playground.

"She's not an—"  
>"Don't you <em>dare <em>finish that sentence."

"But she's not!"  
>"Oh, please! A girl, an <em>armed <em>girl, no less, comes into camp, dressed completely in black, who nearly knocks Reyna unconscious, is not an intruder! Oh, no! She's one of Lupa's messengers! Or a well-trained Chinese food delivery chick!"  
>"We're dressed in black every night when we're taking watch! And the chinese food in San Fran is amazing, so don't judge! By the way, where is Lupa, anyway, isn't she supposed to be here?"<br>"Lupa is at the Wolf House, where she remains unless there is an emergency, which, here, is often. But that's not the point! Why were you kissing her?" Percy looked at her with an expression of confusion. The answer was obvious. Percy _had _told Gwen that he had a girlfriend, hadn't he?

"That was Annabeth." Gwen looked confused. "My _girlfriend? _The one who I've known since I was a little 12 year old? We've gone on all these quests together, and we kinda saved the world together. She's the one who knows pretty much every single thing about me. That one? The one I told you about."

Gwen looked like she'd just been told that the president was a pscycotic alien. But before she could say anything more, Dakota burst out of the forest, looking like he'd just completed a marathon.

"There are MORE!" Gwen and Percy stared at him. There was a big grin on his face, like he'd just won the lottery or something. Of course. Bloodthirsty son of Ares prepared to bust some heads. Typical. "Intruders, I mean. There are two more, and maybe one more, it was like there was someone invisible trailing behind them. Like, a ghost or something."

"Where are they?" Gwen asked.

"In the clearing near the enterance gates."  
>The three demigods sprinted back into the woods, on the lookout for the intruders, though Percy had a pretty good feeling about who they might be. They finally reached the clearing and sure enough, there was the dark-haired girl and the latino boy Percy had met earlier. Before either of them could say anything, Bobby had his huge knife pressed up against the latino guy's throat. Percy was not going to let that happen.<p>

"Stop." Bobby turned to look at him like he was crazy.

"What?" At least give him a chance to explain." Bobby continued staring at Percy for a few more seconds, before removing the dagger from the "intruder's" throat. The guy, who must not have been that much younger than Percy, knealed over with his hands on his knees, taking a few raspy deep breaths. The girl just stood there looking terrified, until she said quietly,

"Percy. Percy Jackson. We've spent all this time looking for you. Annabeth has been spending so much time looking for you and—"  
>"I'm Leo!" The guy, Leo, interrupted enthusiastically. He seemed very pleased with Percy for letting him go. He took Percy arm and shook it in an exaggerated form of a handshake. "That's Piper." He motioned towards the girl, who was still staring at Percy, Gwendolyn, and Dakota as though she wasn't sure whether or not they were figures of her imagination.<p>

"It's . . . nice to meet you?" Gwen looked utterly confused. Just then, a figure, a blonde figure, broke through the trees. She was holding her dagger, a piece of rope still wrapped around her wrist like a bracelet. She seemed more irritated than scared or worried. She wore an expression of disgust, like _how dare these people try to capture me!_, which made Percy proud and a little amused to know that this incredible person, this _amazing _girl, was his girlfriend.

Dakota, on the other hand, looked like he had just been offered a lifetime of free cookies. His face lit up like a child on Christmas.

"The intruder!" He raised his knife, but Percy grabbed his wrist and held it with white knuckles. His expression was clear: _touch her, and you get a black eye. _Dakota backed off.

"Stupid daughter of Apollo tries to treat me like a dog." Annabeth spat, using her knife to cut the rope around her arm. "Brains over beauty, my friends. Brains over beauty. You don't leave a girl's dagger on the floor of an interrogation room when the girl is perfectly capable of using her teeth." Percy grinned at her, and she returned the smile.

Percy turned to Leo and walked towards him. He was about to approach him when he bumped into something, or someone. It hit the ground with a thud—and became visible—a blonde, fifteen-year-old boy with a Yankees cap halfway on his head. Gwen and Dakota gasped at the exact same time. It must have been the mysterious fourth intruder. Percy was just about to help him up and ask his name, but before he could, Gwen cried,

"Jason!" and ran over and gave the boy a hug. Dakota approached him, and asked,

"How did you—" Before he was interrupted by Reyna, who broke through the bushes.

"The blonde one esc—" and then she saw Jason, and Percy knew that they were in trouble.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Kinda lazy today, so this A/N will be short. Basically, this is the 25****th**** chapter, blah blah blah. I just got back from Paris, which was fun, but there was absolutely NO wifi. At all. I couldn't do anything on my computer but watch the French versions of Phineus and Ferb with my little sisters on the hotel room TV. It was painful for me, and probably you too, considering the fact that I've left you hanging for the past 2+ weeks. (Piper's POV)**

For the first thirty seconds that the girl with the dark hair dressed entirely in gold was there, Piper didn't get it. It wasn't until the 31st second that she was there, when she dove down and gave Jason a bear hug and squealed, "Jay Jay!" that she did. Jason was just staring into space, looking confused, during all of this. Of course. Piper understood. This sparkly, bubbly, happy person was Jason's girlfriend. Piper guessed that she had always known that Jason had been seeing someone back at the Roman camp, but she hadn't expected it to . . . hit her this hard. She felt like the whole world was turning into a dream. The voices of everyone else became muffled and unclear. There was no one else but Piper, standing there, fighting back tears.

But it wasn't a dream. It was a reality. And after all these months of working, trying and (so she thought) succeeding at building a relationship that she'd thought was there before, but that turned out to be a dream too. And now, here she was, full circle, feeling miserable again. Great.

"This is great!" the leech (sorry, girl) who had hugged Jason squealed, springing up and clapping her hands like she was about to open a present. "It all makes sense now! And you—" she turned to Annabeth and gave her a huge hug, which Annabeth did _not _return. When she pulled away, a look of confusion, annoyance, and disgust appeared on Annabeth's face. "I am _so _sorry!" She didn't mean it. Whatever she had done to Annabeth that had caused her to have rope around her wrist was obviously not hug forgiveness worthy.

Jason stood up, and for a few awkward seconds no one said anything. He met Pipers eyes. There was a look of guilt, pain, and, desperation that filled up the sky blueness of them. But there was nothing to explain. There was nothing to do. Jason was too nice to even think about breaking the heart of this overly-chipper, childish girl. He turned to the girl and started, "Reyna, I—" but he was interrupted.

"So!" Reyna beamed, clapping her hands together like she was about to address the board of the _Miss America _paegent. "Why don't I show you all to the guest cabins, and contact Lupa. It's been a long, long, long, long day! We'll discuss everything in the morning!"

As the group followed Reyna, there continued to be a confused, awkward, silence. The only two people who were talking were Percy and Annabeth, who were at least three feet behind the group, whispering urgently. Percy kept nodding, while Annabeth looked slightly agitated, using her hands in big movements while she was talking. There really wasn't anyone who looked that excited, though, even Jason. As the group proceeded into the middle of camp, they were welcomed by quick whispers, stolen glances, and unmasked gasps. A few people pointed at Jason, and he gave them weak smiles. Piper couldn't understand what he was feeling: he was one of those people who didn't share his feelings very easily.

When Reyna finally reached the cabins, she instructed Piper and Annabeth towards a path in the woods that led one guest cabin, Leo to his own path, and told Jason and Percy to go to their own cabins.  
>"But that's not fair!" Annabeth protested. It was a surprising comment coming out of her mouth. Annabeth usually kept her head low and her opinions silent in these kind out situations. "Jason barely has any memory of this place, he's confused! And Percy—" she took his hand. "He doesn't belong here." Reyna wasn't smiling anymore.<p>

"Percy has been staying and training, and making friends with us here for the past two and a half weeks." She sounded like a combination between an impatient mother and an annoyed flight attendant. "Where else would he belong?"

"Well," Annabeth replied, mimicking Reyna's beyond-annoying motherly tone. "He's been going to Camp Half-Blood since he was twelve years old, and has tons of friends there." Reyna looked taken aback. The whole _six years _aspect had surprised Piper too. For _another _long while, everyone was quiet, not really sure what to say. Then, finally Reyna sighed.

"Fine, Jason. Because of health purposes, you will remain in the guest cabin until your tour tomorrow. The rest of you, goodnight." Before anyone could say anything else, she turned around and ran away like her shoes were going up in flames. She left Annabeth standing there, her mouth gaping open. Leo reached over and patted her awkwardly on the shoulder: Percy gave him a look. For the bajillionth time that night, there was MORE awkward silence. Piper didn't think she could take it anymore. She wished everyone a good night, a stalked over towards the path that led to the cabin.

Piper walked for a while, maybe for a ten minutes. When she reached what was supposed to be the girls' guest "cabin", she couldn't believe her eyes. The building was maybe about the size of your average school gym, and it was at least fifty stories high. She walked into the glass double doors, into a miniature lobby, and strode toward what she assumed was the front desk. There wasn't a clerk, just a desk without a chair. Behind it, on the wall, were an assortment of about 100 little hotel room cards, each labled by number. Piper, who didn't see any reason why not to, walked around behind the desk and pulled the card that said, "2" out of its slot. She road the elevator up to the tenth floor.

Piper had no idea how the Legion could afford any of this, and that if they could, then their cabins must have been ridiculously tricked out. When the elevator doors opened, they didn't lead to a hallway, they led directly to her room, which was exactly the size of the lobby: about the size of your average school gym. There was a huge, four-poster king-sized canopy bed that took up the right ride of the room. The comforter, sheets, and pillows, all had the same intercrossing CL embroidered on them in gold, with a bedside table on either side, table lamps, pull-down flat screen TV, and unlimited mini-fridge. On the left side there was a bay window and balcony, sitting area, a huge wardrobe filled with fresh clothes and PJs, and then what looked like the entrance to a giant bathroom. Piper took off her shoes and flopped herself onto the poofy bed. At this point, Piper wasn't really worrying about anything: it had been a long day, and Piper hadn't slept in a bed in weeks. She showered, and walked over to the wardrobe, put on a pair of CL pajama pants and a "CL for Nike" fitted tee shirt. She turned out the light, climbed into bed, and tried to go to sleep. She probably would have, if she hadn't heard a consistant tapping sound. Where was it coming from. Piper waited for five minutes, until she couldn't stand it anymore. She turned the light back on, slid on the pair of "CL for UGG" slippers nest to her bed, and checked the bathroom. The bathtub wasn't dripping, neither was the shower. Huh. And then she heard it again. And again. And again. And—smash! The sound of shattering glass filled the room. Piper lunged for Katoptris, and dove onto the cushion on the bench of the bay window. Slowly, she inched open the window, avoiding the broken glass, and slid onto the balcony. She waited for a few seconds, then slowly stood up, straightening out of her catlike crouching position. Then, suddenly something flew up at her, and if she hadn't ducked, she would have been hit in the head by a . . . pebble? Was this some kind of joke? Pulled on her by the Roman kids? She marched towards the edge of the balcony.

When she looked down to the ground, three stories lower, she wasn't sure whether or not to be angry or happy, but she found the corners of her mouth pulling up. She put down her dagger, and smiled for real. It was Jason.


	26. Chapter 26

**fA/N: I'm backkkk! Did you miss me? I have been so rude to you, god, 3 weeks is WAY too long. How stupid of me! Chapter 26 should be better than chapter 25, (that was kind of a filler, but its hard to think of something good after three weeks of absence. God, I need something new to read on fanfiction. All of the stories I like have been completed! UH! Any suggestions from my lovely readers? Please? Anything PJO? Would really appreciate it. Chapter 26 is gonna be kind of short, but bare with me! (Gwen's POV) **

Gwen felt like stabbing a wall. She didn't feel like talking to anyone, either. She just stormed into her cabin, changed, got into her bed, closed her canopy, and turned off the light. Why was it that nothing, _nothing _in her life could be simple? Not even her _friends _were something that she could rely on. Uh. Screw this. She couldn't sit in bed and think about stuff for that long. Too hard. She got up again, grabbed her raiper, and headed back into the training arena, barefoot and in her sleeping clothes.

It was already around 10 o'clock, which meant that everyone was supposed to be in bed, but who cared, really? Nothing like that really mattered anyway. Just like that, in one week, she had lost one close old friend and one new friend. Fantastic. Sure, it wasn't _that _big of a deal that Percy had kissed that girl, besides the fact that for some reason she had something against their camp. The reason why she was so mad at him was not only because this whole thing had been incredibly confusing, but because Percy had lied. He had known all along who he was, and who these people were. And yet, he had lied, and told everyone a stupid little sob story about how he didn't know who he was or where he belonged. He had fooled everyone, even her.

And then, there was Reyna. Poor, confused Reyna, so caught up in her own, stupid personal life to care about anyone else's. And to be honest, besides the whole Jason thing, Reyna's life was perfect. She didn't have any problems socially, her new/old boyfriend was the nicest, most talented fighter in the whole camp, and at this point, after the drama of Jason's disappearance had died down, she had even stopped caring about that, too. At this point, Gwen knew that Reyna had simply decided to _create _her own problems, her own drama. Stuff that would make everything revolve around Reyna, Reyna, Reyna. And where did that leave Gwen? That's right. Gwen had been promoted to the best friend who followed behind, there to pick up whatever mess Reyna had made along the road to extra attention.

Gwen kicked the swinging doors of the training arena open with her red UGG for CP slippers, and stormed into the circular coliseum. Every morning, whichever cabin was assigned to squad had to set the table and clear the debris in the arena. That hadn't been done yet, so there were slashed-up dummies that hung from the tiniest thread, targets about to fall apart, and chopped-up blocks of metal. Gwen smiled. Perhaps she could help the next cabin out. After all, it was for a good cause.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Last chapter of the story! I can't wait for the real version to come out! And when it does, I will write I sequel to that! xoxo, Hailey . (Several POVs)**

**Annabeth**

Annabeth woke up in the way-too-comfortable-to-be-comfortable tempur-pedic king-of-the-universe sized bed in the very top floor of the guest "cabin". She looked over to the clock on the left side of her, seeing that it was 7:00 a.m., on the dot. Percy had told her to sleep as late as she wanted—"You're probably exhausted, and the meeting doesn't start until ten, so, try to sleep past 7?". Annabeth had laughed. He was so cute in that way—that annoyingly, (and, shh!, slightly funny way, too), sarcastic, way. Half of the time comments like that had annoyed her to death, the other half, she had tried to hold back smirks or even laughs, at least since they had started dating. It reminded her why they even liked each other—because they knew each other so well, inside and out.

Annabeth sat up and stretched, avoiding accidently shoving her feet into those WASPy UGG slippers that people only wore because their feet were cold, or because other people wore them. Ugh—everything about this hotel—everything about Camp Legion, was _way _ too stereotypical annoying California for Annabeth. And wasn't San Francisco supposed to be the one city that wasn't like that? Uh. When the meeting with Lupa started, this would all be over.

**Jason**

Jason hadn't thought that he would be bold enough to tell Piper how he felt. It seemed that he wouldn't be the one to do it. It would have been some other, more confident guy, who would do whatever it took to make sure that Piper, or any other girl, was happy. _A guy like Percy Jackson_. Jason thought, as he put on his shoes and walked out the door of his hotel room. Last night had been amazing, though. He had told Piper how he'd felt, and she'd felt the same way. And then he'd kissed her. After she came down from her room, that was.

**Percy**

Percy was nervous about going back to Camp Half-Blood. Even after Annabeth had talked to him all about it last night while they walked to her guest cabin, he still has incredibly nervous. It was obvious that that was what was going to happen, though. It was their only choice.

**(A/N: (PROMO): SOOOOO, my pets! What will happen now? Will all be well for Jason and Piper? Will the giants prevail? Will all be alright? Author alert me to find out, because in a month or so, you will!)**

**XOXOXOXOXO, HAILEY **


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